Kylian Mbappe Risks Jose Mourinho’s Wrath With Latest Injury Update

Kylian Mbappé took to social media to hint at a positive update on his knee injury with a video filmed while riding a bike, less than two weeks after Real Madrid manager José Mourinho insisted professional players must give up cycling.

“You are a football player 24 hours a day,” Mourinho told the Bet it Drives Show toward the end of September. “Everything reflects the job. What you eat, what you drink, how you sleep, even things in your private life.

“You cannot ski. You cannot ride a bike. You fall off your bike, and you don’t play three matches maybe, or maybe worse, maybe you break a leg ... There are a lot of things you have to give up to be a football player. If you feel it’s a hobby, you’re dead.

“There’s always a relationship between what you achieve and what you give up.”

What Does This Mean for Mbappé’s Injury?

Mbappé was active on social media at the weekend. Shortly before the cycling video, another post showed the Frenchman running on a treadmill.

Clearly, both activities are heavy on the knees and so it would appear as though the problem Mbappé picked up on France duty is already clearing up, although there is a big difference between light exercise and being cleared to return to training and competitive matches.

Madrid are back in action on Oct. 10, when Villarreal visit the Bernabéu. That comes just 15 days after Mbappé went down with the injury and so, even though he has been back on the treadmill, his involvement in that fixture is in doubt.

A trip to Roma in the Champions League comes four days later and that may well be a wiser target date for Mbappé, who will have one eye on Madrid’s upcoming fixtures.

October also brings home games against Sevilla and RB Leipzig, but it is El Clásico against Barcelona on Oct. 25 that will be circled on the calendar.

Madrid are likely to show caution with Mbappé’s return to action, particularly given the problems caused by a knee issue last season. The French forward was in and out of the treatment room between December and March, missing a total of seven matches in the process.

His absence is not expected to reach those levels this time around, with an appearance against El Clásico not in doubt. Instead, it will be a case of ensuring Mbappé reaches that crunch fixture at peak fitness.