{"id":3621,"date":"2026-05-15T10:35:01","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T10:35:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zeepat.name.ng\/?p=3621"},"modified":"2026-05-15T10:35:01","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T10:35:01","slug":"kylian-mbappe-booed-real-madrid-striker-claims-to-be-fourth-forward-after-substitute-appearance-on-injury-return-football-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zeepat.name.ng\/?p=3621","title":{"rendered":"Kylian Mbappe: Booed Real Madrid striker claims to be ‘fourth forward’ after substitute appearance on injury return | Football News"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Kylian Mbappe has claimed he is Real Madrid’s “fourth-choice forward” after coming off the bench to a chorus of boos during the club’s 2-0 win over Real Oviedo on Thursday evening.<\/p>\n

Mbappe was returning from a hamstring injury after missing the Clasico defeat on Sunday which ultimately secured the LaLiga title for arch-rivals Barcelona, and came off the bench midway through the second period for homegrown forward Gonzalo Garcia, who had started – and scored – alongside Vinicus Junior and Franco Mastantuono.<\/p>\n

Mbappe has been the subject of much anger from Real Madrid fans, and become something of a scapegoat with the club enduring a second consecutive season without silverware.<\/p>\n

Over 30m people signed a petition calling for Real to get rid of the striker, who came under fire for his decision to go on holiday to Sardinia while recovering from a hamstring injury.<\/p>\n

“I’m 100 per cent fine,” Mbappe said after Thursday’s match.<\/p>\n

“I didn’t play because the coach (Alvaro Arbeloa) told me I’m the fourth-choice forward in the squad behind (Franco) Mastantuono, Vin\u00edcius (J\u00fanior) and Gonzalo. I accept it and play the time I’m given. I think I played well,” he told reporters after the game.<\/p>\n

“I was ready to start, it’s his decision and it always has to be respected. I have no problem at all with \u200bArbeloa. You have to accept the coach’s philosophy and I have \u200bto do better to play ahead of Vini, Gonzalo and Mastantuono.”<\/p>\n

Mbappe had started all of Real’s previous six games, scoring three times, prior to his injury and has been out of the starting line-up on only four previous occasions when available for Arbeloa in the 26 matches since the head coach took over from Xabi Alonso in mid-January.<\/p>\n

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\n \"Alvaro\n <\/div>
\n Image:<\/span>
\n Alvaro Arbeloa has had a difficult time in the dugout since replacing Xabi Alonso as Real Madrid’s head coach
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Arbeloa was questioned over Mbappe’s comments following the game and said he felt it was not possible for the forward to come straight back into the line-up following his hamstring injury, and denied his claims of being the club’s fourth-choice forward – before revealing he will start Real’s next game against relegation-threatened Sevilla this Sunday.<\/p>\n

He said: “I had a conversation with him before the game and I \u200bdon’t know what he could have interpreted.<\/p>\n

“For \u2060me it is very clear that a player who four days ago could not be on the bench (against Barcelona), today should not start. \u2060Especially because \u200bit’s not a final, it’s not \u200ba game of life or death.<\/p>\n

“I can understand that Mbappe isn’t happy about not playing, but it’s a decision based on the circumstances. It was the most logical and natural thing to do, the most common-sense thing.<\/p>\n

“If you want, you can show me Kylian’s mixed zone (comments) and we can discuss it. Until I hear what he said, I’m not going to comment on every single sentence. As long as I’m in this position, I decide who plays and who doesn’t. I don’t care what their names are.”<\/p>\n

Mbappe shrugged off the boos he receive from the infamously ruthless Real support.<\/p>\n

“It’s life,” he said.<\/p>\n

“You can’t change people’s minds when they’re angry. I shouldn’t take it personally. It’s the life of a Real Madrid player, and a famous player like me. They’re not happy. That’s the only way to understand the whistles.”<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kylian Mbappe has claimed he is Real Madrid’s “fourth-choice forward”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3622,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-madrid"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeepat.name.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeepat.name.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeepat.name.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeepat.name.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeepat.name.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/zeepat.name.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3621\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeepat.name.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeepat.name.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeepat.name.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeepat.name.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}