Real Madrid dealt major injury blow ahead of Super Cup derby

On Monday, three days before Real Madrid’s Spanish Super Cup bid begins, Kylian Mbappé trained in the gym. And while the club publicly pointed to Tuesday morning’s session as the moment to determine whether the French superstar could feature in the Super Cup, his presence in Thursday’s semifinal against Atlético Madrid is already considered ruled out. He won’t play.

Another derby without Mbappé. The Bondy native already missed the first one Madrid played after signing him, last September at the Metropolitano. In the four derbies he has played, he’s scored twice - both in LaLiga: last year to level the match at the Bernabéu, and again this season (also to equalize at the time, before the collapse) at the Metropolitano in that 5-2 defeat.

Mbappé troubled by knee niggle

The 27-year-old was diagnosed on New Year’s Eve with a sprain in his left knee - an area that had been bothering him for several weeks. That was why he sat out the December 10 match against Manchester City. Until the Betis game, it was the only match he had missed all season. A brief pause, a breather, before closing out the year by scoring against Alavés, hitting a brace against Talavera, and finding the net versus Sevilla to tie Cristiano Ronaldo’s record of 59 goals in a calendar year. But after the holiday break, Mbappé’s knee has finally said enough.

On Saturday, the day before the Betis match, Madrid head coach Xabi Alonso remained cautious about having Mbappé available in Jeddah. “We’re going to push the timeline as much as we can,” the coach said, in a tone that offered little optimism. “We’ll do everything possible to have him back as soon as we can. When is ‘as soon as possible’? That’s the question. I don’t know. The Super Cup? We hope…”

Mbappé, who has 29 goals this season, has missed only 11 of the 94 games Madrid has played since he arrived in the summer of 2024. All due to short‑term issues: apart from the gastroenteritis he suffered during the Club World Cup - which sidelined him for three games - he has never missed more than two straight.

Huijsen back from injury

The one piece of good news on Monday for Alonso was the return of Dean Huijsen. The center‑back, who sat out the Betis match, completed the full training session with the group. The coach will release the squad list for the Super Cup after Tuesday’s training session. In addition to Mbappé, the coach is currently without Éder Militao and Trent Alexander-Arnold, both injured, and Brahim Díaz, who is on Morocco duty at the Africa Cup of Nations. The rest are ready to chase Spain’s 14th Super Cup.