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Mbappe sustained a bruised calf as a result of a tackle from Carlos Romero during the capital city team’s 1-0 defeat at the hands of Espanyol. To make things worse for Carlo Ancelotti’s men David Alaba also joined the long list of injured players during…Read More
Kylian Mbappe. (X)
Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti confirmed that star forward Kylian Mbappe will miss the side’s Copa Del Rey quarterfinal match against Leganes after sustaining a bruised calf as a result of a tackle from Carlos Romero during the capital city team’s 1-0 defeat at the hands of Espanyol.
“Mbappe started to train today, yesterday we gave him an extra day of recovery,” Ancelotti said.
“He has a bruised calf, he trained normally but tomorrow he will not be available for the game,” the Italian clarified.
To rub salt in Madrid’s wounds, Romero, who avoided a sending-off for the brash challenge went on to score the winner in the game. Madrid sent a letter to the nation’s football body seeking an explanation as to why the Espanyol player was not shown a red card for the dangerous tackle.
“We’re talking about something that’s inexplicable, we’re talking above all about the welfare of the players, and what Madrid’s message asks for is an explanation, and that seems right to me,” said Ancelotti.
“We want an explanation about what happened and why nothing was done to look after the welfare of the player,” the 65-year-old said.
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Ancelotti had to endure more injury woes ahead of Los Blancos’ quarters clash in the Copa Del Rey as Austraian defender David Alaba, who returned from a long bout on the sidelines recently, picked up another injury during training and is expected to miss around six weeks. The veteran defender’s absence compounds Madrid’s miseries as the Madrid giants are already without long-term absentees Eder Militao and Dani Carvajal.
“Unfortunately in the last two days we’ve lost two important players, that’s something we did not contemplate… Alaba was ready to play tomorrow, as he had good feelings,” Ancelotti said.
“It’s a moment of emergency which we have to bear out, because these are small problems, Alaba will be out for 15-20 days, Rudiger the same, so we have to deal with it with (the players) we have.”
