{"id":34389,"date":"2026-01-03T15:05:58","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T15:05:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=34389"},"modified":"2026-01-03T15:05:58","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T15:05:58","slug":"xabi-opens-up-on-mbappes-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=34389","title":{"rendered":"Xabi opens up on Mbappe&#8217;s return"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>Real Madrid coach Xabi Alonso admitted Saturday that he does not know how long injured superstar Kylian Mbappe will be sidelined for.<\/p>\n<p>The French striker was diagnosed with a knee strain on Wednesday, expected to keep him out for at least three weeks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ll try to make it happen quickly, it depends a lot on how he feels, but we\u2019ll try to get him back as quickly as possible,\u201d Alonso told a news conference.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen is as soon as possible? That\u2019s the question. I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The coach said he hopes Mbappe will be back to take part in the Spanish Super Cup, with Los Blancos facing rivals Atletico Madrid in the semi-final on January 8.<\/p>\n<p>Mbappe, 27, is Madrid\u2019s top goalscorer with 29 goals this season across all competitions in 24 appearances.<\/p>\n<p>Alonso will be without the striker for Sunday\u2019s La Liga clash against Real Betis at the Santiago Bernabeu.<\/p>\n<p>Madrid trail leaders Barcelona by four points, with the Catalans visiting city rivals Espanyol on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>Alonso came under heavy pressure in December amid Madrid\u2019s inconsistent form, with his future still on the line in the weeks ahead.<\/p>\n<p>One bright spot was Brazilian forward Rodrygo Goes bursting into form towards the end of 2025, and Alonso wants him to continue in the same vein.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe played some very good games at the end of the year\u2026 we need him, like everyone else,\u201d said Alonso.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo make up for Kylian\u2019s absence we have different options, and Rodrygo is one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mbappe has enjoyed a stellar 2025, equalling Cristiano Ronaldo&#8217;s club record 59 goals in a calendar year, and has at times carried Real Madrid, relieving some pressure on under-fire coach Xabi Alonso.<\/p>\n<p>He has scored 73 goals in 83 matches for Real since making a free transfer move to the Spanish giants from Paris Saint-Germain 18 months ago.<\/p>\n<p>He finished top scorer in La Liga last season with 31 goals &#8212; four more than Barcelona&#8217;s Robert Lewandowski &#8212; and is currently seven goals clear of the next best this season, Barca&#8217;s Ferran Torres.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Real Madrid coach Xabi Alonso admitted Saturday that he does not know how long injured superstar Kylian Mbappe will be sidelined for. The French striker was diagnosed with a knee strain on Wednesday, expected to keep him out for at least three weeks. \u201cWe\u2019ll try to make it happen quickly, it depends a lot on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34389\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}