{"id":23774,"date":"2026-05-15T07:56:26","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T07:56:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/23774\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T07:56:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T07:56:26","slug":"after-not-starting-mbappe-says-real-madrid-coach-arbeloa-has-made-him-the-fourth-choice-striker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/23774\/","title":{"rendered":"After not starting, Mbapp\u00e9 says Real Madrid coach Arbeloa has made him the fourth-choice striker"},"content":{"rendered":"

MADRID (AP) \u2014 Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 said after not starting in Real Madrid\u2019s Spanish league soccer<\/a> match against Oviedo on Thursday that coach \u00c1lvaro Arbeloa told him that he is the team\u2019s fourth-choice striker.<\/p>\n

Arbeloa appeared to be caught by surprise by Mbapp\u00e9\u2019s words and said he never told him that. He said he doesn\u2019t know why Mbapp\u00e9 felt like that.<\/p>\n

Mbapp\u00e9, who had been nursing a left hamstring injury, said he was ready to play from the start against Oviedo but Arbeloa decided not to use him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m 100% fine,\u201d Mbapp\u00e9 said. \u201cI didn\u2019t play because the coach told me I\u2019m the fourth striker in the squad behind (Franco) Mastantuono, Vini (Vin\u00edcius J\u00fanior) and Gonzalo (Garc\u00eda). I accept it. I was ready to start, it was his decision. You can\u2019t be angry with the coach, you always have to respect the opinion of the coach. I\u2019ll keep working hard and wait to be the starter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arbeloa later said he never told Mbapp\u00e9 he was the fourth striker in the squad.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have four strikers, and I haven\u2019t told anything like that to Mbapp\u00e9,\u201d Arbeloa said. \u201cHe probably didn\u2019t understand me. I don\u2019t really know what to tell you. I wouldn\u2019t tell him that he\u2019s the fourth-choice striker.\u201d<\/p>\n

The disagreement between Arbeloa and Mbapp\u00e9 is the latest in a chaotic week for Madrid, which started with an altercation between players in training that led the club to fine Federico Valverde and Aur\u00e9lien Tchouam\u00e9ni 500,000 euros<\/a> ($589,000) each. <\/p>\n

Then came the 2-0 loss to Barcelona in the clasico on Sunday<\/a> that allowed its rival to clinch the league title. On Tuesday, an edgy Madrid president Florentino P\u00e9rez called for new elections after saying he was the victim of an \u201corganized campaign\u201d to unseat him.<\/p>\n

Mbapp\u00e9 was booed by the crowd at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium after coming into the match to replace Garc\u00eda in the 68th minute. He assisted in Jude Bellingham\u2019s 79th-minute goal that sealed Madrid\u2019s 2-0 win.<\/p>\n

The France star had been criticized by some fans who claimed he was saving himself for the World Cup. During his time off because of the injury, Mbapp\u00e9 reportedly traveled to Italy with actress Ester Exp\u00f3sito, prompting criticism in Spanish media that he may not be taking his rehabilitation seriously.<\/p>\n

The striker downplayed the importance of his trip.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had the club\u2019s permission to be away from Madrid,\u201d Mbapp\u00e9 said. \u201cI wasn\u2019t the only one, but you have to accept it and move on. I can easily turn this situation around.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mbapp\u00e9 has not yet fully met expectations of his high-profile signing with Madrid two seasons ago. The club has not won a major trophy since he arrived.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP soccer: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/soccer<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MADRID (AP) \u2014 Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 said after not starting in Real Madrid\u2019s Spanish league soccer match against Oviedo…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23775,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[10353,9649,640,1693,91,82,83,1844,1743,396],"class_list":["post-23774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-madrid","tag-aurlien-tchouamni","tag-ester-expsito","tag-federico-valverde","tag-florentino-perez","tag-jude-bellingham","tag-madrid","tag-real-madrid","tag-real-oviedo","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23774\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}