The French forward missed the key match despite training with his teammates on Friday after recovering from injury.
Published May 10, 2026
Kylian Mbappé will miss Real Madrid’s crucial La Liga match against Barcelona, despite training for El Clasico with his teammates before the trip to the Catalan capital.
The league’s top scorer has been left out of Real Madrid’s squad for Sunday night’s match at Barcelona’s Camp Nou stadium. If the home team wins against their arch-rival, they will be crowned Spanish champions.
Images from Real Madrid’s home training session on Saturday showed Mbappé taking part in training, showing that the French forward has recovered from a hamstring injury sustained two weeks ago, but his name was crucially not included in the 21-man squad named on social media.
Brazilian star Vinicius Junior will lead Los Blancos’ front line, supported by Brahim Díaz and Gonzalo Torres.
Meanwhile, Aurélien Choameny was included in the midfield squad despite a recent collision with teammate Federico Valverde on the training ground, which resulted in both players being fined 500,000 euros (approximately $589,000) each.
Barcelona go into this match as favorites to not only win the match, but also to retain the league title. The Catalan giants maintain an 11-point lead over their opponents and a draw would seal their 29th victory in the Spanish league with three games remaining.
If Barcelona wins its final four league games this season, starting with a battle against a collapsing Madrid team led by coach Alvaro Arbeloa, it will equal the all-time league record of 100 points.
Mbappe is doubtful that he will be able to play in El Clasico due to a hamstring injury and has been heavily criticized by fans after taking a holiday to Sardinia to recover.
In response to this, Coach Arbeloa expressed his desire for his players to play with even more dedication.
“We did not build Real Madrid with players who play in tuxedos, but with players who finish the game with effort and sacrifice, wearing shirts covered in sweat and mud,” Arbeloa said after Madrid beat Espanyol without Mbappé, delaying Barça’s title celebrations.
Mbappé is expected to be fully fit for France’s 2026 World Cup matches in June and July in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
France, who lost to the finalists at the Qatar 2022 tournament, will open against Senegal on June 16, before facing Iraq and Norway in the group stage.
Mbappe is also expected to be available for friendlies against Ivory Coast and Northern Ireland on June 4 and 8 respectively.
