Thursday, December 12, 2024, 16:31
Kylian Mbappé suffers an injury to the thigh of his left leg that will slow his progression at a time when he seemed to be finally gaining cruising speed. The French striker from Real Madrid, who had to retire in the 36th minute of the match his team played on Tuesday against Atalanta, corresponding to the sixth day of the Champions League, after feeling a puncture shortly after starting a clash in the who sealed the first of the three goals that gave the whites an essential victory to stay afloat in the highest continental competition, will miss the League match that his squad will face this Saturday against Rayo Vallecano and is a doubt for the final of the Intercontinental Cup that will be held next Wednesday and that will measure the team led by Carlo Ancelotti against a rival yet to be determined who will emerge from the crossroads that will be held, also this Saturday, by the Mexican Pachuca and the Saudi Al-Ahly.
The deadlines are quite fair for Mbappé to be able to reach that event that will take place at the Losail Stadium, the same venue where he left a performance for posterity two years ago in the World Cup final in Qatar, when he gave life to the French team signing a hat-trick that would end up being, however, in vain, so that ‘les bleus’ defeated Leo Messi’s Argentina.
Real Madrid does not want to take any type of risk with the star, even less so in a season in which physical problems are being a huge handicap for Chamartín’s team, which has accumulated 27 injuries at this point in the campaign, with 23 games disputed by the whites. However, the Chamartín club is not closing the door on a timely recovery for the ‘9’, who already cut the forecast when he was injured in the femoral biceps of his left leg during the match against Alavés held last September. .
The forecasts then spoke of about three weeks away from the playing fields for the forward, but the Frenchman broke those estimates and only missed the derby against Atlético that took place at the Metropolitano. For the next match, the visit to the Lille venue corresponding to the second day of the Champions League, Mbappé already made himself available to Carlo Ancelotti, who brought him on in the second half. He played a total of 33 minutes at the Pierre-Mauroy Stadium, allowing him to leave his convalescence period in just eight days.
Recovered smell
This precedent encourages Real Madrid’s hopes for the Intercontinental Cup, a commitment that returns to the calendar this year and in which the whites can add their fifth title of 2024. It could also be the second since wearing white for Mbappé. After missing penalties in the clashes against Liverpool and Athletic, Bondy’s star re-emerged with two great goals against Girona and Atalanta, the result of actions that recalled that prodigious attacker who marveled at Monaco and PSG. Along the way he had also scored another extraordinary goal in the match against Getafe, where he also missed a carousel of chances in the second half.
These performances have lifted the spirits of a footballer who, even though he is not shining at the level of what Real Madrid expected when last July he orchestrated a lavish presentation for him at the Santiago Bernabéu after seven years of courtship, has already accumulated 12 goals, a figure that makes him the second highest scorer on his team, surpassed only by the 13 that Vinicius has. Nine of those goals have been scored by the Frenchman in the League, another two in the Champions League and the remaining one in the European Super Cup, a tournament that marked his baptism of fire with the Chamartín team.
