Mourinho blown away by Mbappé ahead of Liga kickoff

Kylian Mbappé surprised José Mourinho even before the Liga season began. Returning from vacation on August 12, two days earlier than planned, the France captain then opened the scoring in the sixth minute during Real Madrid’s final friendly match against Schalke 04 (3-0) on August 16.

The Portuguese manager, who says he knows his striker’s qualities perfectly well, admits to being positively taken aback. “Mbappé is incredible,” he said in an interview with El Chiringuito. “Sometimes he makes me laugh in training… because he’s too strong. He’s a player of stratospheric level.”

Mourinho also defended Mbappé against recurring criticism that has followed the French international since his arrival in Madrid, despite two Liga top scorer awards in his first two seasons. “It’s not for me to judge or analyze what he did last season. It was strange and complicated for everyone. And ultimately it was Xabi [Alonso] and Alvaro [Arbeloa] who paid the price.”

The manager emphasized the signal sent by this early arrival. “A boy who could only have arrived on August 14 and who showed up on August 12… That says a lot. If he was there on the 12th, it’s because he wanted to play against Schalke, under minimal conditions.” Mourinho added that Mbappé trained “with the same commitment and the same desire to improve” as the rest of the squad.

Real Madrid begins its Liga season on Saturday at 9:30 p.m. away at RCD Espanyol.