Injured Mbappé wanted to return to Madrid, but Zidane kept him with France squad

Kylian Mbappé will not play against Italy on Thursday at San Siro, sidelined with a hamstring injury. But the France captain did not leave the squad either: Zinedine Zidane decided to keep him, despite the Real Madrid forward’s initial wish to return to Madrid for treatment.

According to Spanish journalist Marcos Benito, reporting on the show El Chiringuito, Mbappé had reached an agreement with Real Madrid’s medical staff to join the Valdebebas training centre at the first sign of physical concern. A private plane was waiting in Paris to take him back to his club.

Zidane, however, decided otherwise. The France manager hopes to have his number 10 available for Sunday’s trip to Turkey, and prefers to monitor the evolution of his injury himself before making a final decision. “When you have a feeling, you take zero risk,” he said at a press conference, acknowledging that Mbappé was disappointed to miss the match against the Azzurri, while praising his attitude.

This situation reportedly created some tension between the two men. “All this is starting to create certain tensions in their relationship,” Marcos Benito claimed. An assertion to be treated with caution: neither Mbappé nor Zidane have publicly stated any disagreement, and the source remains a Spanish sports entertainment outlet.

The question of the captain’s availability for the Turkey match therefore remains open, along with the broader issue of balancing club and national team interests — a recurring debate around the Real Madrid player.