The last few weeks have been very eventful within Real Madrid. After the fight between Fede Valverde and Aurélien Tchouameni and the tense situation inside the Real Madrid locker room, this Thursday the Madrid fans had Kylian Mbappé as a target to direct their criticism towards.
Read more Jordi Martí: “Only if I lose the primaries will I give up being Junts’ candidate in Barcelona”
After the defeat at Camp Nou last Sunday, Madrid returned home to play an inconsequential league match against Oviedo. Mbappé returned to the squad after missing the last two matches due to injury. Given that situation, Álvaro Arbeloa chose to leave the Frenchman on the bench, who came on in the 69th minute.
After his controversial trip with his partner, Ester Expósito, while injured, the Madrid fortress received the Frenchman with a loud booing. A situation that, according to Mbappé, could have been softened with his starting, as he blended in with the rest of his teammates throughout the match. The Bernabéu, tired of the internal war within the club, also applauded Gonzalo, a homegrown player, showing their preferences after the controversies experienced in recent days.
After the loud booing he received at the Bernabéu, Mbappé did not hold back in throwing a poisoned dart at Arbeloa. As he recounted, the Madrid coach made it clear to him that he is “the fourth forward in the squad behind Mastantuono, Vini, and Gonzalo.” At the same time, Mbappé also made it clear that he could have started, saving himself the bad moment of being booed by the fans: “I was ready to start, but it was the coach’s decision. I wasn’t angry, I respect his decision,” he added.
After these statements, Álvaro Arbeloa was asked at a press conference about the Frenchman’s comments. With a surprised look and not really knowing what Mbappé meant by those statements, the Madrid coach said he didn’t know exactly what to say and assured he hadn’t said that phrase. Later, he implied that it was probably the Frenchman who misunderstood the message he wanted to convey before the match: “I had a conversation with him before the match, I don’t know what he might have interpreted.”
Finally, Arbeloa also wanted to explain his decision to leave the Frenchman on the bench: “It’s obvious that four days ago he couldn’t step onto the field and now it wasn’t his turn to start. In the next matchday, he will be the first forward and, in any case, I am the coach who decides who plays and who doesn’t,” he stated.
Read more The former head of Antifraud Daniel de Alfonso, ordered to return 142,484 euros of his salary
The situation at the Bernabéu has brought to light a conflict that has been burning in the Real Madrid locker room for weeks. As can be seen, two factions have been created where there is a cross confrontation. Arbeloa has come to the conclusion that Mbappé withdrew from the last league rounds to avoid facing defeat in the title race against FC Barcelona.
From the Spanish’s point of view, Mbappé was not up to the level of a club like Real Madrid, distancing himself from the team when the unity of a completely broken locker room was most needed. During his injury, Mbappé decided to travel with Ester Expósito to Italy to enjoy a short vacation while Real Madrid was falling apart. That did not please Arbeloa, who made him face the judgment of the Bernabéu.
Also read
For the Frenchman, it seems he did not like being a substitute, which, in his opinion, led to greater booing from a large part of the white fans. With the league already decided, Mbappé is now available again to fight for his individual interest, the Pichichi trophy. The Bernabéu not only booed Mbappé for the trip to Italy but for an entire season where he fought more for his individuality as a player than for the collective.
The cross statements between Mbappé and Arbeloa have only brought to light the tension experienced inside the white locker room over the past months and also highlight the differences between Vinícius, whom Arbeloa likes, and Mbappé, who preferred Xabi Alonso.
Read more After two days of summit, Trump remains undecided about whether to send weapons to Taiwan
