♦ Kylian Mbappe awaiting debut after signing for Real Madrid
♦ Los Blancos currently on pre-season tour of USA
♦ Carlo Ancelotti reveals when Mbappe is expected to make his first start
Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has suggested Kylian Mbappe will start against Atalanta in the UEFA Super Cup next week.
Mbappe signed for Madrid on a free transfer from Paris Saint-Germain earlier this summer, finally joining Los Blancos at the end of a long-running saga stretching back several years.
He was unveiled at the Santiago Bernabeu after the completion of Euro 2024 before going on holiday to rest and recover from the international tournament.
Speaking after Madrid’s recent 2-1 defeat to Clasico rivals Barcelona in a pre-season friendly, Ancelotti revealed when the world can expect to see Mbappe make his debut.
“Mbappe can obviously be in the Super Cup starting XI. [Jude] Bellingham too and the others [on holiday] too. They are prepared, they have followed a plan and they will all play,” he said.
Madrid have one match left to play in their three-game pre-season tour of the USA having already lost to Barca and AC Milan. They face Chelsea in Charlotte on Tuesday night before jetting back home.
Mbappe and several other Madrid stars who reached the latter stages of either Euro 2024 or Copa America will instead reconvene at the club’s Valdebebas training complex.
European champions Madrid will then travel to Warsaw for the Super Cup against Europa League winners Atalanta on August 14, four days before they kick off their La Liga campaign away to Mallorca.
Mbappe’s first home match as a Madrid player is likely to come on August 25 when they welcome Valladolid to the Bernabeu. A trip to Las Palmas and another home game, this time against Real Betis, will swiftly follow before the first international break of the new season.