Real Madrid faces Lille Olympique Sporting Club for Matchday 2 of the 2024-25 Champions League. However, Kylian Mbappe will start the match on the bench, after being sidelined due to an injury.
The French star, who was set to face his younger brother Ethan, isn’t part of the starting eleven after sustaining a thigh injury in Madrid‘s 3-2 LaLiga win over Alavés on Sept. 24. However, he could play some minutes, according to what Carlo Ancelotti explained in the press conference previous to the match.
“Yes, he’s recovered well, fast,” Ancelotti told the press. “But he only trained on his own yesterday. He’s been out for a short time so he hasn’t lost his condition. We’ll train now, he’ll train with us and then we’ll evaluate and take the right decision. We don’t want to take any risks.“
“He had a strain,” Ancelotti explained. “Now with new technology they talk about grade one, grade two… In just under a week, he’s recovered well. He wanted to travel to play. If he feels good, 100%, he could play. If there’s no risk, he’ll play from the first minute.”
It was expected that the forward would be out of action for around three weeks. So far, Mbappe, who has scored seven goals for Madrid this season in all competitions, only missed one game, Real’s 1-1 draw at Atlético Madrid in the derby on Sunday.
Real Madrid’s starting lineup vs Lille
Real Madrid will play against Lille with the following starting lineup: Andriy Lunin; Ferland Mendy, Antonio Rudiger, Eder Militao, Dani Carvajal; Eduardo Camavinga, Aurelien Tchoumanei, Fede Valverde; Vinicius, Jude Bellingham and Endrick Felipe.
Kylian Mbappe’s goals with Real Madrid so far
Apart from his five goals in LaLiga, Mbappe also scored against Stuttgart in the Champions League for Madrid’s 3-1 win. His first goal for Los Blancos came in the UEFA Super Cup against Atalanta, which Madrid won 2-0.