Alvaro Arbeloa has moved to defuse the public row with Kylian Mbappe over the Frenchman’s place in the Real Madrid pecking order, insisting the situation is “far more normal” than the noise surrounding it suggests, as the outgoing manager prepares to face Sevilla in what is widely expected to be his penultimate game in charge.
Mbappe made headlines this week when he told reporters that Arbeloa had informed him he was the fourth-choice forward at the club behind Franco Mastantuono, Vinicius Junior and Gonzalo Garcia, having been used as a 69th-minute substitute in Wednesday’s 2-0 win over Real Oviedo.
Arbeloa denied the framing outright before addressing the situation in his pre-match press conference for Sunday’s trip to Sevilla.
“I don’t even have four strikers and I never said such a thing,” he had said in his pre-match remarks.
“I understand that many of these things might seem like news,” Arbeloa told reporters. “Everything he said in the mixed zone was something he had already spoken to me about beforehand. I approach it much more naturally because, as I always tell my players, I’ve been there and I know what they feel in any situation. I know what it’s like to play every day, I know what it’s like to play less, and I know what it’s like not to play at all.
“I see everything that has happened these days as very normal, and my relationship with Mbappe remains the same.”
Mbappe, for his part, was careful not to escalate things. “I have no problem at all with Arbeloa. You have to accept the coach’s philosophy and I have to do better to play ahead of Vini, Gonzalo, and Mastantuono,” he said, adding that the decision had to be respected even if he was ready to start.
‘The hardest thing at Real Madrid is when you don’t win’
With the season entering its final days and his own tenure drawing to a close, Arbeloa also reflected candidly on what the four months have meant to him – and what has hurt most.
“The most difficult thing in this club is always when you don’t win. And that’s what hurts me the most: not having helped the club and the players achieve their goal, which was to win titles. The hardest thing at Real Madrid is always when you don’t win because of the level of expectation we have and because of the hopes of so many people that rest on our shoulders. Not having been able to help them is what has hurt me the most.”
Real Madrid have ended the season without a trophy after a campaign that included a Copa del Rey exit to second-division Albacete in Arbeloa’s first competitive match in charge, a Champions League exit and a La Liga title won comfortably by Barcelona.
Arbeloa replaced Xabi Alonso in January following a turbulent start to the campaign and has repeatedly spoken about the experience as an extraordinary personal education.
“I came here four months ago as a Primera RFEF coach, and the day I leave, I will leave as the coach of Real Madrid,” he said. “I don’t think there are many coaches who can say the same. For me, these four months have been an incredible experience, a massive personal and professional learning curve. The day this ends, I believe that, apart from having grown, I will leave with a clear conscience.”
Abreloa gives Mourinho endorsement
The loudest moment of the press conference came when Arbeloa was asked about Jose Mourinho, who has emerged as the frontrunner to succeed him at the Bernabeu this summer alongside Didier Deschamps.
Arbeloa, who played under Mourinho during the Portuguese manager’s time at Real Madrid between 2010 and 2013, left no doubt about his personal view.
“I think I’ve been very clear throughout my life about what I think of him. For me, as his player, but above all as a madridista, I feel and believe he is number one.
“A colleague of yours asked me a few days ago if I still think what I said when we faced him in the Champions League, and I will continue to think that Jose has been, is, and will always be uno di noi. If he is the one here next season, I will be very happy to see him back home.”
