Kylian Mbappe will not feature against Barcelona this weekend. (Image: Getty)
Kylian Mbappe will not be part of the Real Madrid squad to take on Barcelona at the Nou Camp this evening, having pulled up in training. Reports from Marca, claim the 27-year-old ‘stunned his team-mates’ near the end of their final training session on Saturday on the eve of El Clasico.
The French forward pulled up with discomfort in his hamstring, before announcing he would not continue and left the training pitch. Mbappe has been nursing an injury in his hamstring leading up to the clash and now it seems as though he’ll be ruled out of the clash this evening.
There had been some hope he would be deemed fit enough to feature in the crunch clash with Real’s arch-rivals this weekend, knowing anything other than win against Barcelona would guarantee Hansi Flick’s side the title.
Mbappe has been the subject of criticism from Los Blancos fans in recent weeks, having appeared to go on holiday with his new girlfriend during his injury rehabilitation.
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Representatives of the French international were forced to release a statement, which read: “Part of the criticism is based on an over-interpretation of elements related to a recovery period strictly supervised by the club, without reflecting the reality of Kylian’s commitment and the work he puts in every day for the team.”
Real Madrid fans were left incensed and accused Mbappe of not taking his recovery seriously, with the club on the brink of a second successive season without a trophy.
It’s been a chaotic couple of weeks for Real after news broke of Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni being involved in a changing room bust up ahead of the clash with Barca. Valverde reportedly fell unconscious and cut his head before being taken to hospital, with the players fined €500,000 each for their part in the incident.
Kylian Mbappe has been struggling with an injury. (Image: Getty)
There was no spot in the Real Madrid squad for Mbappe or Valverde, with Los Blancos boss Arvelo Arbeloa defending both the Uruguayan and Tchouameni during his press conference.
He said: “What I’m not going to do is publicly crucify them, because they don’t deserve it. They’ve shown me what it means to be a Real Madrid player over these past four months and years.
“They’ve demonstrated what it means to be a Real Madrid player, and I won’t forget that. These two players deserve for us to turn the page, to give them an opportunity to keep fighting for this club.
“I’m not going to allow this to be used to question their professionalism, it’s a lie that they’re unprofessional, that they’re not playing because of problems with me, and that they’ve disrespected me, it’s absolutely false.
“I’m the one ultimately responsible for the fact that we probably haven’t lived up to expectations this season. If you want to point the finger at someone, here I am.”
Arbeloa was also forced to defend Mbappe and said: “For a player to leave training smiling is taking things out of context and making them seem out of place. In Mbappe’s case, we all know the effort he made to come to Madrid and what he gave up. We’ve all seen him in a Madrid tracksuit as a kid.
“I feel completely within the authority of a Madrid coach, ultimately, they’re respecting the current coach, and as a player, that’s the most important thing.”