The curse that haunts Mbappe

Kylian Mbappe has never been an injury-prone player, although the last few weeks have not given him any opportunity to prove it. In a season and a half at Real Madrid, he has played almost everything, has scored with a regularity that few strikers can boast in the club's history and his fitness, in general, has not been news. The problem is not what fails, but when it fails. Because in that small margin of absences, the calendar has had an accuracy that not even Mbappe exhibits on the field

Every time his body has asked him to stop, there has been a final, a knockout match or a derby in front of him. Just look at the chronology. Months after his long-awaited arrival in the Spanish capital, in September 2024, a muscle injury prevented him from playing in his first derby against Atletico Madrid. That same season came the Copa del Rey final against Barcelona. Mbappe was not 100 percent fit, but he traveled and came on from the bench as planned.

Madrid lost and drew a line under a transitional campaign that ended at the Club World Cup in the United States, where the Frenchman received another blow. Specifically, gastroenteritis that took him to hospital , made him lose several kilos and left him out during the entire group stage of the most anticipated tournament of the summer. His body, again, choosing the worst possible moment.

This season the script has become even more cruel. Last December, in a league match against Celta , the left knee began to show signs of alert. Days later, Manchester City visited the Bernabeu in the Champions League group stage and Mbappe did not force a single minute despite the defeat and his presence on the bench. Just at the end of the year, the diagnosis confirmed a sprained knee ligament and what followed was the image of a player fighting against his competitive gene. He missed the Super Cup semi-final against Atletico and travelled to the final to end up playing 14 minutes when Barca were within touching distance of the trophy. Another final lost in limbo. Another image of Mbappe striving in vain.

A round trip

What makes this story unique, we insist, is not the frequency but the direction. Mbappe returned, scored regularly in LaLiga , was vital, traveled to Lisbon for the first leg of the round of 16 against Benfica and played. Then he went to Pamplona and played until the end at El Sadar. That was his last performance. In training prior to the second leg against the Portuguese, the discomfort became impossible to avoid and tests confirmed that the injury was still there. The club decided that the risk was too high for him to play in the second leg. Now, on his return from France and with Manchester City waiting at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu for the Champions League round of 16 tie, Mbappe is once again the big absentee.

The second leg at the Etihad Stadium on March 17 looms on the horizon as a possible return date, although the message from the club is more cautious than hopeful. With the World Cup on the horizon and his knee at its limit, no one wants to rush anything. Arbeloa repeats that "he is getting better, day by day". What is known is that Mbappe is already running on the grass at Valdebebas, an image to which Madrid fans cling to as if they have found light at the end of a tunnel. Because if there is an occasion in which his presence can make a difference, it is precisely this one