Mbappé goes to war

The postgame blowup had been brewing, and Kylian Mbappé made sure Real Madrid’s season wasn’t nearly heated enough yet. There was still another war to be fought - and he declared it in front of every microphone he could find after a 2–0 win over Real Oviedo, a match in which he came off the bench. “The coach told me I’m the fourth-choice striker,” he fired. Asked if there was any issue with Álvaro Arbeloa, Mbappé doubled down on the same line. “No, none - but you have to accept the coach’s idea. I’ve got to work to be better than Vini, Mastantuono, and Gonzalo...” Bang.

“I didn’t say that”

That was the opening shot, one Arbeloa sidestepped. “I didn’t say that - I wish I had four strikers. He must have misunderstood me,” he told his postgame press conference. But there was more ammo. Much like Florentino Pérez did in his now-famous press conference on Tuesday, Mbappé broke protocol and opened the floor to unlimited questions in the Bernabéu mixed zone. He wanted to speak at length. He wanted to send messages. And he wasn’t going to leave a single target untouched.

“We let it slip away”

Because he had a second shot ready to aim at his current coach, and it landed hard. Framed as a critique of the switch from Xabi Alonso (with whom he had strong chemistry) to Arbeloa, Mbappé didn’t hold back. “We started the season well - in LaLiga, in the Champions League - but we lost it in the second half. And it hurts a lot, because I feel like we had a clear playing identity and we let it slip away.” Arbeloa didn’t let that one pass. “I’d be fine if he sees it that way - he probably scored a lot more goals in the first half of the season than in the second.” By then, there were no prisoners being taken.

The moment of peak tension came when Arbeloa was told about another comment from the forward, saying he felt ready to start against Oviedo. “I understand that those who don’t start aren’t happy, but as long as I’m sitting in this chair, I make the decisions,” the coach said. “If they like it, great. If they don’t like it, they can wait for the next game.” A full dose of authority.

The Mbappé-Arbeloa flashpoints

There are three flashpoints that poisoned what was already a distant relationship between coach and megastar. The main one: Mbappé was desperate to be the focal point of El Clásico. When, in Saturday’s final training session before the trip to Barcelona, he learned he wouldn’t start…it all unraveled. He walked off the pitch late in practice, citing discomfort, and then mysteriously didn’t make the matchday squad - announced nine hours before kickoff at Camp Nou. Not even as an emergency option, as had been the case in the Spanish Super Cup final in Saudi Arabia under Xabi. Arbeloa, who hinted at players’ “big egos” in his press conference, referenced that Barcelona absence directly. “A player who four days ago couldn’t even make the bench should only be coming on today in the second half…” If it doesn’t smell like punishment, it certainly looks like it.

A second clash - earlier in the timeline - came at the RCDE Stadium. After the 2–0 win over Espanyol, Arbeloa faced three questions about Mbappé’s commitment. The Frenchman had flown back to Madrid on a private jet from a controversial trip to Italy while still recovering from injury, arriving just 12 minutes before kickoff. “We didn’t build Real Madrid with players who step onto the field in tuxedos,” Arbeloa said - a thinly veiled jab. Up to that point, it had been the only public dig. But inside the club, it echoed loudly - a sign of what was brewing in the week leading up to El Clásico.

There was a third, more subtle episode. Last night, at the Bernabéu, Arbeloa used an entire substitution window solely to bring on Mbappé - no one else, spotlight fully on him. The result? Boos, loud and sustained, directed at the French star, who absorbed them with a half-smile.

Mbappé tried to project calm during the match. Cameras even caught him joking with David Alaba - who, once he realized the cameras were on them, quickly shut it down. A sign of what was coming. Mbappé had been building toward the postgame fireworks. And Arbeloa wasn’t the only target. He also aimed at the locker room, referencing his controversial trip to Sardinia with his partner while recovering from a minor muscle issue. “I had authorization from the club not to be in Madrid - and I wasn’t the only one away from the squad…”. Ouch. That weekend, in addition to Mbappé, Dani Ceballos (disciplined) and injured players Arda Güler, Rodrygo Goes and Éder Militão were also absent - but Militão had undergone surgery in Finland just five days earlier. Mbappé even suggested, once again, that tensions run deeper behind closed doors. “I prefer to speak here. A lot of people don’t - and I have to read the press to know what they think…”

Real Madrid have stumbled into yet another source of turmoil for these final two weeks of the season - weeks that already feel like an endless grind, much like the two before them. And Valdebebas has turned into a minefield.

Get closer to the game! Whether you like your soccer of the European variety or that on this side of the pond, our AS USA app has it all. Dive into live coverage, expert insights, breaking news, exclusive videos, and more. Plus, stay updated on NFL, NBA and all other big sports stories as well as the latest in current affairs and entertainment. Download now for all-access coverage, right at your fingertips – anytime, anywhere.

And there’s more: check out our TikTok and Instagram reels for bite-sized visual takes on all the biggest soccer news and insights.