FIFA Club World Cup 2025: Will Kylian Mbappé start for Real Madrid against Juventus?
Kylian Mbappé, the 26-year-old French superstar, has been the tournament's biggest talking point—not for his dazzling goals, but for his unexpected absence. The Real Madrid striker missed all three of Real Madrid's group stage matches against Al Hilal, Pachuca, and RB Salzburg due to a nasty bout of gastroenteritis that landed him in the hospital. Fans were gutted to miss out on seeing the European Golden Shoe winner, who bagged an astonishing 43 goals in his first season with Los Blancos, light up the pitch.
Thankfully, there's good news. In a press conference on June 30, 2025, Real Madrid's head coach, Xabi Alonso, shared an optimistic update. 'Kylian's back in good spirits. We're chatting daily, and he's looking sharp in training. We'll make the final call tomorrow morning,' Alonso said with a grin, hinting that Mbappé has a 'strong chance' of playing against Juventus. Whether he starts or comes off the bench, though, remains a mystery.
Mbappé's been putting in the work at training, showing the same fire that's made him a global icon. After a rocky start at Real Madrid, where he and Vinicius Jr. struggled to gel, the French captain is itching to make his Club World Cup debut—a stage he's never graced during his days at PSG or Monaco. Real Madrid vs. Juventus: A Clash of Titans
This Round of 16 matchup is pure football magic. Real Madrid, who cruised through Group H with seven points, are riding high after a commanding 3-0 win over RB Salzburg. Juventus, despite a rough 5-2 defeat to Manchester City in the group stage, clinched their knockout spot and will bank on rising star Kenan Yıldız to deliver some flair.
Xabi Alonso, in his debut season as Real Madrid's manager, has been tinkering with his attack to get Mbappé and Vinicius Jr. firing on all cylinders. 'It's not about one or the other—they complement each other. Vini's magic on the wing, Kylian's killer instinct inside. They'll click,' Alonso said, brushing off doubts about their chemistry. If Mbappé plays, this could be the moment fans see Real's dream attack come to life. Will Mbappé Start or Be a Substitute?
While Alonso's comments have fans hopeful, the latest buzz suggests Mbappé might not start. Posts on X from accounts like @MadridUniversal and @RealBrasil_BR indicate that young striker Gonzalo García could keep his place after shining in the group stage. García found the net in Real's 1-1 draw with Al Hilal and created plenty of chances, earning high praise from Alonso.
Still, Mbappé's impact, even as a substitute, could be seismic. His lightning speed and lethal finishing could tear apart Juventus' backline, which looked shaky against Manchester City. If he does start, expect a lineup featuring Courtois between the sticks, a defense of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Rudiger, Huijsen, and Fran Garcia, a midfield trio of Tchouameni, Valverde, and Bellingham, and an attack led by Guler, Vinicius Jr., and Mbappé.
Ahmedabad Plane Crash
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
10 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Chelsea stalwart could finally leave this summer with huge wages still an issue
With the Club World Cup now over, we're back in a similar situation to the one we were in a year ago at Chelsea – business has been done on bringing players in, now the hard work begins on shifting those we don't need. Last summer there was a full on bomb squad of first team players kept separate from the main group to encourage them to find a move. That won't be quite as necessary this year as those first team players who were at the CWC will be on holiday anyway. But those players who arrive at Cobham in the next couple of weeks know they're in the out tray. Newly promoted team target Chilwell Ben Chilwell applauds the fans. (Photo by) One player who the club would love to move on is Ben Chilwell. The left back spent the second half of last season on loan after a summer move couldn't be found, and so far has limited interest in his services pretty limited this summer too. We do finally have a new rumour to report on though – CaughtOffside claim that newly promoted Leeds are interested in filling the gap on their left created by the departure of Junior Firpo with the England international. England star's wages create issues once again As ever with Chilwell, his large wages are what create an issue, especially for a newly promoted team. But he will hope that by lowering his demands, Chelsea and Leeds can figure out how to make that work between them. Chelsea would likely accept a very small transfer fee just to get the former Leicester man off their books at this point. After missing half of last season and missing so many games in his career with injuries, he will surely be desperate to get back to action soon. It's not an easy deal to get done, but all 3 parties should be keen to do it.
Yahoo
10 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Transfer news live: rumours and done – Chiesa linked with Serie A return
This page will update live with the latest relevant news, no need to refresh the page! The 2025 summer transfer window officially opened on July 1, and all clubs have already moved to complete their first signings. Inter and Juventus, the Serie A representatives at the Club World Cup, had an extra transfer window available at the start of June, which the Nerazzurri used to sign Petar Sucic from Dinamo Zagreb and Luis Henrique from Marseille. Juventus, on the other hand, have appointed Damien Comolli as their new General Manager, who will be tasked with hiring a new sporting director and a new technical director. The Bianconeri have made Jonathan David their first summer signing. Follow today's transfer news on the Football Italia liveblog, featuring Italian pundit Alfredo Pedullà, who has joined our team for an exciting 2025 summer transfer window.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
The mystery surrounding Chelsea's experimental preseason
Chelsea's Club World Cup win was a triumph – we got loads of money, a big trophy and saw some really great performances, both from new players and the team as a whole. Chelsea could suffer at season start with mini-preseason Packed Chelsea preseason training, group generic. It comes at a cost though. Every team in the Premier League other than Man City has been sitting with their feet up for a month while we've been playing draining, competitive football against the best teams in the world. Now our players go on their break, while the rest of league ramps up into preseason. It's going to create a very strange start to the 2025-2026 season for Chelsea, and most people would suspect that it's going to mean a slow start in terms of results. According to Simon Johnson, the majority of our players will only return from holiday two weeks before we start the season against Crystal Palace on Sunday 17th of August. Loanees the first to return Johnson quite reasonably expects that Jamie Gittens and Estevao Willian will start a little earlier, as they didn't make it as deep in the CWC as we did. Then there are others who weren't taken on the tour and have already returned to Cobham to start their preseason – but as Johnson points out: 'they are returning loanees who are expected to be sold.' 'Chelsea have just two friendlies, against Bayer Leverkusen and Milan, before their opening Premier League game versus Crystal Palace.' So for all the fun we had in the USA, we may pay the price in the early weeks of the season as we look to get up to speed and face teams who are a month ahead in terms of preparation. Don't be surprised by a few bad results, and a rather mixed up team in those early weeks as everyone plays catch up.
