Real Madrid explain Mbappe’s absence for Club World Cup opener | OneFootball

Kylian Mbappe has been to hospital after missing Real Madrid’s Club World Cup campaign opener against Al-Hilal, the club have said.

Xabi Alonso fielded a strong side in his first match as Real Madrid manager. However, Mbappe was missing from the team with illness for the 1-1 draw.

And Real have explained that the French star has been suffering with gastroenteritis, and has been hospitalised with the illness.

Real Madrid’s statement said: “Our player Kylian Mbappe has acute gastroenteritis and has been hospitalised for various tests and treatment.”

Gastroenteritis is not as serious as it may sound and is more commonly referred to as a stomach bug.

The illness usually clears up in a few days and the forward could be back in contention for Real Madrid’s next match against Mexican side Pachuca on Sunday.

Madrid took the lead against Al Hilal through youngster Gonzalo Garcia in the 34th minute before Ruben Neves equalised for the Saudi Pro League side seven minutes later from the penalty spot, in what was Alonso’s first game in charge.

New signings Trent Alexander-Arnold and Dean Huijsen both started the game, along with the likes of Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo and Jude Bellingham.

Real Madrid did have a golden opportunity to claim all three points at the end of the match. They were awarded a penalty in the final moments but regular taker Mbappe was not there to step up and the responsibility fell to Uruguayan Federico Valverde, but his spot-kick was saved in injury time.

As a result, Alonso’s side were held to a draw in their Club World Cup opener. Reflecting on his first game in charge, he said: “I didn’t like the first half too much,” Alonso said. “We didn’t play very well, we didn’t have good ball circulation, we were very wide, and we didn’t know how to adjust when we lost the ball.

“We’ll have to look at that to react. We reacted in the second half; we had much better balance on the ball. We got close to the box and were able to drown them out a bit more.”

They will travel to Charlotte to face Pachuca next, before heading to Philadelphia for their final group game against Red Bull Salzburg.