Mourinho defends Mbappé against 'hostile' press ahead of Villarreal clash

José Mourinho raised his voice on Friday in a press conference, vigorously defending Kylian Mbappé ahead of Real Madrid’s home fixture against Villarreal at the Bernabéu, the club’s first match since their derby defeat to Atlético.

Asked about the French striker, who suffered a left knee injury during France’s first match of the international break but has since recovered, the Portuguese manager made no effort to hide his frustration. “Apparently, his case is more important than Manchester City’s or the difficult situation in my country with Cristiano Ronaldo. There are so many subjects that could have fueled your work, but you always have to talk about Real Madrid,” he said, describing the media noise around his player as “ridiculous.”

Mourinho then detailed Mbappé’s medical journey since returning from international duty. “He came back, had his tests, went to see an external consultant for more tests. He had to follow a recovery plan that you don’t know the details of. You’ve been searching for problems. You talked about the nightclub, then it was the bike episode. I find that ridiculous.” The manager also stressed that it was “the first time in ten years” that the club had no injured players outside of long-term cases, a “beautiful story” that the press, in his view, would not want to tell.

The Madrid boss went further, accusing certain media outlets of deliberately trying to turn supporters against Mbappé before Saturday’s match. “That’s one of your objectives. You don’t need to be Einstein to understand it. My wish is that the Bernabéu will know how to be fair, and that means being intelligent,” he declared, before issuing a clear warning: “I promise the Bernabéu that when a Real Madrid player doesn’t behave as he should or doesn’t meet his obligations, he won’t even have the chance to be booed because he won’t even be on the bench.”

Real Madrid faces this match in a delicate position: fourth in La Liga, the Merengue are already six points behind FC Barcelona. A victory against Villarreal on Saturday has become almost essential to prevent the gap at the top of the table from widening further.