Mbappe travels to France to consult specialist about knee injury

K ylian Mbappe decided last week to travel to France to consult several specialists about the sprained left knee he has been suffering from since December and which is still giving him problems. The striker was unable to play in the important Champions League match against Benfica and, in the absence of improvement, he chose to look for a specialist in his country. That is why he was not at the Santiago Bernabeu during the Madrid-Benfica match, taking advantage of that day to travel to his country with the club's permission.

The player is not entirely satisfied with Real Madrid 's medical services, as he believes that in the last three months they have not managed to give him an effective solution. The situation has caused his performance to drop and he has had to come in and out of the team frequently. This situation has caused anger in Mbappe and his entourage, who are already looking for solutions in their country.

Both the player and the coaching staff understood before the match against Benfica that it was time to make a firm decision to prevent the injury from dragging on longer than necessary. The priority is to definitively resolve the knee discomfort, to attack the origin of the problem and to recover the best version of the striker in the decisive stretch of the season. A week ago there were doubts about the origin of Real Madrid striker's pain and bad feelings . In the match against Celta on December 7, he came off with problems in the internal lateral ligament, but it is not ruled out that now it is the posterior cruciate ligament that is giving him trouble . Hence Mbappe has sought a new opinion outside of Real Madrid's medical services.

The aim of Mbappe and Real Madrid when they decided to stop last week was clear: to be 100% ready for the next round of the Champions League, whose first leg will be played on March 10 or 11 and the second leg on March 17 or 18. The club wants to have its great attacking reference in full condition to face a key tie, although today no one guarantees the presence of the Frenchman. The deadlines are more than fair, and it is more likely that he will be ready for the second leg rather than the first

Three months without a clear solution

Mbappe began to feel discomfort in his left knee on December 7 and since then he has been in and out of the team without his problems finally going away, with some questionable decisions by both the player and the medical staff.

December 7: Mbappe felt discomfort towards the end of the first half and left the pitch at half-time limping. He started the second half and finished the game although depleted, on a night when the Parisians ended up losing 2-0.

December 10: Mbappe is included in the squad for the Real Madrid-Manchester City match, but is not fit to play and remains on the bench for the entire match, without playing a single minute.

December 17: After reappearing and playing 90 minutes on the 14th against Alaves, Mbappe surprisingly played 90 minutes against Talavera in the Copa del Rey. Cristiano's annual goal record, which he would go on to equal after scoring twice that night, was to blame for the effort...

December 31: In the last training session of the year, Madrid announced that Mbappe was suffering from a knee injury and from France they pointed out that the player's absence would be between three and four weeks...

January 11: But just 10 days after that injury was announced, Mbappe reappeared in the Super Cup final against Barcelona. It is said that the player wanted to be there to help his team in the final and Xabi Alonso, who was on the ropes and was eventually dismissed.

January 14: Arbeloa leaves him out of the squad against Albacete, more for rest than for knee problems. Madrid are eliminated from the Copa del Rey and Mbappe returns to play normally, although without showing the same physical prowess on the pitch. His finishing remains intact with nine goals in the next six games (Levante, Monaco, Villarreal, Benfica, Rayo and Valencia).

February 14: Another break. Mbappe stays on the bench for the whole match against Real Sociedad because his problems do not disappear. He returns three days later against Benfica...

February 23: Mbappe says enough is enough. The Frenchman again seriously relapsed from his discomfort and decided to stop and take action to finally end his knee problems. The striker, with the club's permission, travels to his country to consult with other specialists...