Xabi Alonso said Real Madrid will “assess the risk” of playing Kylian Mbappé in Sunday’s Supercopa final with Barcelona, with the star forward racing to recover from a knee sprain.
Mbappé flew out to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to join his teammates on Friday having stayed behind to continue his recovery in Madrid, missed Thursday’s 2-1 semifinal derby win over Atletico Madrid.
The France international has been absent for Real’s first two games of 2026, with an injury which had previously troubled him for some weeks, despite scoring 29 goals in all competitions this season.
“He’s much better,” Alonso said in a news conference on Saturday. “The idea was that it was going to be very tight [for Mbappé] to play against Atlético, so we decided not to rush him.
“But if we got to the final, depending on how he felt, he would come. When he trains today, we’ll have all the information we need to assess it, and see if he’s ready to start, or play a bit less.”
Alonso was asked whether it would be worth the risk of giving Mbappé a pain-killing injection to take part in Sunday’s final, with the first trophy of the Spanish season on the line.
“We have to assess the risk,” Alonso said. “We know what’s at stake, and take responsibility for our decisions. We’re not kamikazes… It’s a controlled risk.”
Dani Carvajal added about Mbappé: “He’s a very important player for us, he’s the best forward in the world, let’s hope tomorrow he can be on the pitch, if it can’t be from the start, for as many minutes as he can, because he can be decisive.”
Madrid beat Barcelona 2-1 in the first Clásico of the season in October, having lost all four meetings in 2024-25.
They completed Thursday’s semifinal with a makeshift defence, after centre-backs Antonio Rüdiger and Raúl Asencio both had to be substituted with discomfort.
“[The defence] are better,” Alonso said. “We’ll train this afternoon and make a decision. We’re seeing some instability in defense. Some players are putting in an extra effort. But we’re dealing with it.”
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Vinícius Júnior has again been in the spotlight this week after clashing with Atletico coach Diego Simeone during Thursday’s game.
The Brazil international has now gone 16 matches without scoring.
“Every player is different,” Alonso said, when asked about how he’s managing the forward.
“You have to be intelligent. Vini is emotional. You have to know how to be there for him. His teammates and the coaching staff make sure he understands. It’s a matter of timing. He’ll be back to his best, and he will be decisive.”
