Real Madrid are a headline machine over the past two weeks, and after their win over Real Oviedo on Thursday night at the Santiago Bernabeu, Kylian Mbappe fed the machine. He publicly questioned manager Alvaro Arbeloa, and claimed that he had been told that he was the ‘fourth forward in the squad‘ by his coach.
This was vehemently denied by Arbeloa, who said that he had said no such thing. Mbappe had come on for the final 22 minutes against Oviedo after missing the last two games through injury, and was loudly whistled by the fans. Much to the surprise of the media at the Bernabeu, Mbappe then appeared in the mix zone to answer questions, skipping Real Madrid protocol in La Liga, and spent seven minutes speaking to the press.
Mbappe questions Arbeloa management
Not only did he make the fourth forward claim about Arbeloa, he also questioned his management. Despite saying that he had no problem with Arbeloa, Mbappe did appear to question his management.
“We started the season well, in La Liga, in the Champions League… but we lost it in the second half. And it hurts a lot, because I feel we had a structured playing style and we let it slip away.”
Mbappe’s motives for Arbeloa blast
It is detailed by Diario AS that there were three issues that caused Mbappe to publicly air his discontent. The first was the fact that after returning from injury, Mbappe found out he would be on the bench in El Clasico, after which he told the medical staff that he had felt more pain in his leg. The French forward was keen to play a starring role against Barcelona.
The second was the fact that Arbeloa had seemingly questioned his attitude in a press conference after their win over Espanyol, which Mbappe missed due to injury. He commented that ‘Real Madrid was built with players covered in mud and sweat, without ego, not players in smoking jackets’, which was taken as a direct shot at Mbappe for his attitude.
The third frustration for Mbappe was the fact that Arbeloa sent Mbappe on against Oviedo, with a high chance of a visceral reception, on his own, rather than five minutes before with Jude Bellingham and Dani Carvajal. This was taken by the 27-year-old as a deliberate exposure to the Bernabeu reaction.
