Just in – Real Madrid megastar has not fully recovered, will not start vs Barcelona | OneFootball

Heading into tonight’s Copa del Rey final against FC Barcelona, Real Madrid have been sweating over the availability of attacking megastar Kylian Mbappe.

The French forward suffered an ankle sprain earlier this month in the home defeat against Arsenal that led to Los Blancos’ elimination from the UEFA Champions League.

Mbappe missed the subsequent La Liga games against Alaves and Getafe but returned to training earlier this week and was named in the squad that travelled to Seville for the cup final tonight.

As such, the expectation was that the 26-year-old attacker would be ready to start against Barcelona at Estadio de La Cartuja.

Not ready to start

However, reports emerged overnight suggesting that Mbappe might not be at 100% yet, casting doubts over his involvement in the game.

Building on that, Radio MARCA now reports that the Real Madrid superstar has indeed not fully recovered from his ankle sprain.

Mbappe unlikely to start. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

The forward was supposed to undergo some last-minute fitness tests today to assess his condition heading into the contest against Barcelona.

Now, it appears that Mbappe is far from the required physical condition to feature from the start against the Catalans in the cup final.

As such, everything indicates that he will begin the game on the bench tonight, with Vinicius Jr. and Rodrygo Goes likely to start in attack for Real Madrid.

This comes as a blow for Real Madrid considering that Mbappe has been their most prolific forward this season despite having had his ups and downs since joining from PSG last summer.

Carlo Ancelotti will be hoping that his players are able to get the job done without having to rely on the French superstar and risk further aggravating his condition.