A nightclub that was not a nightclub. A cyclist who was not a cyclist. Jose Mourinho spent much of his Friday press conference walking the Spanish media through what he said the stories around his forward actually were, and his verdict on the week was blunt.
“What is happening is ridiculous,” Mourinho told reporters, as reported by Goal.
The Portuguese had been asked about a run of headlines that cast Kylian Mbappe as a player drifting away from his club: a reported late-night visit to a Paris venue, photos of him on a bicycle in Switzerland, questions about a knee issue, and a Liverpool rumour originally carried by Spanish outlet Defensa Central. Mourinho’s answer was to dismantle each in turn and name the forward in his starting lineup.
‘Mbappe will play tomorrow’
The headline from the press conference was that Mbappe starts against Villarreal in La Liga at the Bernabeu, with kick-off scheduled for 9pm local time on Saturday.
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“Mbappe will play tomorrow, and that’s because I’m sure he hasn’t let Real Madrid down,” Mourinho said, as reported by Onefootball.
He attached a public condition to the trust.
“I promise the Bernabeu that when a player doesn’t behave like a Real Madrid player 24 hours a day and doesn’t fulfil his obligations, you won’t see that player on the pitch or on the bench, he’ll be on the bench.”
A private event, not a nightclub
Mourinho then went story by story. The nightclub, he said, was something else entirely.
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“First, the nightclub that wasn’t a nightclub, it was a venue for a private Paris Fashion Week event,” he told reporters.
The bicycle photographs got the same treatment, with a sarcastic reference to the Swiss stage race.
“The bicycles were simply there to get around the communal areas of a quiet hotel, yet it was made to look as though he was riding in the Tour de Suisse,” Mourinho said.
On the knee, he described a routine check rather than a flare-up.
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“He came here after the injury and was diagnosed. He went for an outpatient consultation because his knee has a medical history that cannot be overlooked.”
‘Read between the lines’
Mourinho did not name Liverpool in his answer, but the Portuguese did address the transfer talk indirectly. The Defensa Central report says Liverpool have made contact with Fayza Lamari, Mbappe’s mother and representative, over a 2027 move, with the Spanish outlet putting a potential fee at between €200m and €250m.
“I hope the Bernabeu will be fair and intelligent. You have to read between the lines,” he told reporters.
Mbappe and Villarreal are at the Bernabeu on Saturday at 9pm local time.
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