Real Madrid must defeat Barcelona in Sunday’s El Clasico showdown at the Spotify Camp Nou if they are to keep the La Liga title race alive for another week, but their task won’t be easy, given they will be missing crucial players.
It was already confirmed that Fede Valverde will not be involved after suffering a concussion in his training ground bust-up with Aurelien Tchouameni, while the likes of Dani Carvajal, Eder Militao and Arda Guler are also ruled out due to injury. This list has now been added to in the last few hours by Kylian Mbappe, who’s dropped out of the Real Madrid squad that is travelling to Catalonia.
Mbappe had been expected to play some part in El Clasico, but that is no longer the case. He was not named in Alvaro Arbeloa’s squad for the match, with the decision having been reached on Sunday morning.
As per Diario AS, Mbappe was unable to complete Saturday’s training session due to discomfort. He had been pencilled in for minutes off the bench at the Spotify Camp Nou, but ultimately, the decision was taken for him not to be risked, meaning that Real Madrid are one attacker down for El Clasico.
Mbappe’s absence is a blow for Real Madrid, but they must do the best they can without his services. There is hope that he will be able to play some part against Real Oviedo on Thursday, although the La Liga title race would already be over by this point if Barcelona avoid defeat in El Clasico.
It remains to be seen how Real Madrid get off without the services of Mbappe, but it’s safe to say that their preparations for the visit to Barcelona have been far from ideal. But in more positive news, they do have star goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois back from injury, and he will start at the Spotify Camp Nou.
