Real Madrid coach Xabi Alonso has been sent a warning about his striker Kylian Mbappe ahead of the … More
Real Madrid coach Xabi Alonso has been sent a warning about his striker Kylian Mbappe ahead of the Frenchman meeting his former club Paris Saint-Germain in the Club World Cup semifinals on Wednesday.
Mbappe is set to play against his employers from 2017 to 2024 for the first time since completing a free transfer last summer which took him from his country’s capital to Spain’s counterpart.
Though Madrid finished his maiden term at the Bernabeu without major silverware, as FC Barcelona scooped a domestic treble and Arsenal knocked Los Blancos out of the Champions League, Mbappe still sealed the Golden Boot as Europe’s top scorer.
On the other hand, a team that recovered from life after Mbappe under Luis Enrique won its first ever Champions League crown that Mbappe, plus the likes of Neymar and Lionel Messi failed to deliver to the Parc des Princes in PSG’s ‘bling bling era’.
Getting to the final and then winning the Club World Cup would be a major statement for either side without mentioning its mammoth prize money, and Madrid and PSG now stand in each other’s way of achieving that.
Alono has a huge decision to make on whether to start Mbappe, who arguably his star player but has only just recovered from a bout of gastritis, or breakout academy product Gonzalo Garcia who has scored a number of important goals at the ongoing tournament against the likes of Juventus and Borussia Dortmund in the knockout rounds.
On Spanish radio, and the hugely popular El Partidazo de Cope program, Manolo Lama advised Alonso to go for Mbappe out of fear of annoying the World Cup winner through a snub in Gonzalo Garcia’s favor.
“The issue for which I think Mbappe will play is the following: you are going to play against PSG, who owe €50 million to Mbappe. He wants to [start] … If you, for whatever reason, don’t put him in the starting line-up, I think Mbappé will be p*ssed off and for a long time. While Gonzalo, if you don’t put him in, people will say that it’s unfair and that you’re not right,” Lama explained.
Real Madrid boss Alonso will be judged for whatever he does
For Real Madrid manager Alonso, it’s a case of “damned if you do, damned if you don’t”. He’ll be criticized no matter whether he goes for Mbappe or Gonzalo Garcia, and regardless of whether his team advances to the Club World Cup final to face either Fluminense or Chelsea.