Kylian Mbappe will be back for El Clasico. That was the message from Real Madrid on Saturday, when the club’s medical staff returned scans on the forward’s left knee and ruled out the ligament damage that had been feared.

The diagnosis was a hyperextension of the posterior capsule, an injury Mbappe sustained as he struck the winning goal in France’s 1-0 Nations League win over Turkey on Friday, 25 September. He briefly tried to continue, went down again a minute later and was substituted in the 58th minute of Zinedine Zidane’s first game in charge of Les Bleus.

“Following tests carried out today by Real Madrid’s medical department on our player Kylian Mbappe, he has been diagnosed with a hyperextension of the posterior capsule of his left knee,” the club said in a statement.

Two weeks in the treatment room

Recovery is estimated at roughly two weeks before Mbappe is back in full training. That timeline takes him out of France’s remaining Nations League fixtures over the next week and puts Real Madrid’s next two matches in serious doubt.

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Jose Mourinho’s side host Villarreal at the Bernabeu on Saturday, 10 October at 9pm local time, Real Madrid confirmed. Four days later they travel to Roma for a Champions League league-phase meeting at the Stadio Olimpico on Wednesday, 14 October.

Both fixtures may come too soon. Neither is the priority.

Zidane feared worse

The France coach had assumed the worst in the immediate aftermath of the Turkey game.

“Unfortunately, it doesn’t look good. I think he’ll have to go back. We’re not going to take any risks. He has swelling in the knee,” Zidane told reporters.

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The French federation initially described the problem as a knee tendon injury and sent Mbappe back to Madrid for further examination. The scans run 24 hours later at Valdebebas produced a less alarming picture: no ligament tear, no surgery, just rest.

Camp Nou is the target

El Clasico is the target and has been since the scans came back clean. The visit to Camp Nou on Sunday, 25 October is Real Madrid’s first meeting with Barcelona this season and the biggest fixture of Mourinho’s opening months in his second spell at the Bernabeu, more than a decade after his first.

Before the trip to Catalonia there is a home La Liga fixture against Sevilla on Saturday, 18 October, the likeliest date for Mbappe’s return, roughly a week after his estimated return to full training.

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