Mbappe set to make Spanish league debut against Real Mallorca

Madrid’s bitter rivals Barcelona begin their campaign at Valencia in new coach Hansi Flick’s first league game in charge. The highly-anticipated Clasicos between Madrid and Barcelona will take place at the end of October and mid-May. Madrid finish the season at home against Real Sociedad with Barca making the trip to Athletic Bilbao on the weekend of May 24-25.

In the meantime, Mbappe’s potential absence from France’s next game at the European Championship comes as no relief to their opponents, the Netherlands, who reckon the French will still present a formidable threat with or without their leading striker. Mbappe’s nose was broken in the latter stages of Monday’s win over Austria in Duesseldorf and it is not yet clear whether the France captain will be able to play against the Dutch in Leipzig on Friday.

Mbappe terrorised them in a qualifying campaign which had the two countries in the same group, scoring twice in a 4-0 win in Paris and then netting both goals in a 2-1 victory in the return in Amsterdam last October.

“It does not matter if he is there or not. They have a lot of other good forwards and besides them a really good team. But we are not scared of anyone so if he is there or not, it doesn’t make any difference,” said goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen at a press conference today. The 21-year-old made his debut last October in the home loss to the French, beaten by two brilliantly instinctive finishes from Mbappe.