Real Madrid assistant coach reveals reason behind Mbappé’s outburst
Real Madrid’s assistant coach Davide Ancelotti shed light on what led to Kylian Mbappé losing his cool on the pitch.
It’s common to see coaches protesting decisions that go against their teams. But during the match against Alavés, when Mbappé was sent off, Davide Ancelotti chose a different path. Without any hesitation, he said, “It was a clear red card.”
Real Madrid has been struggling with inconsistency this season. After losing at home to Valencia in La Liga last week, they suffered a heavy defeat to Arsenal in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final. Hoping to bounce back, they faced another tough test on Sunday against lower-table side Alavés.
Just four minutes after Madrid took the lead in the 34th minute, Mbappé made a reckless challenge on Antonio Blanco and was shown a red card. Initially, the referee had given him a yellow, but after checking the VAR monitor, he upgraded it to a straight red.
Despite being a man down for the rest of the game, Madrid held on and secured a hard-fought 1–0 win. With head coach Carlo Ancelotti serving a touchline ban, Davide Ancelotti took charge from the dugout. He was visibly frustrated with Mbappé’s rash decision and threw up his hands in disappointment.
Naturally, the red card was a hot topic during the post-match press conference. Davide stood by the referee’s decision, saying it was the right call.
“(After the incident) I haven’t spoken to him yet. Kylian is not a violent player; he understood what he did and has already apologized. It was clearly a foul worthy of a red card, and he’s paid the price.”
“(Before that incident) he had been provoked multiple times, and that’s what led to his reaction, which wasn’t right. I don’t support his behavior, but that’s what happened.”
TV replays showed players on Madrid’s bench demonstrating how Mbappé had kicked Blanco. The challenge could have seriously injured the Alavés midfielder.
This marks the fourth red card in Mbappé’s career — the previous three came during his time at PSG.
With this narrow win, Real Madrid now sit second in the table with 66 points from 31 matches (20 wins, 6 draws). Barcelona lead the league with 70 points from the same number of games.
