Kylian Mbappe backlash grows before El Clasico

Kylian Mbappe is facing a backlash that has become bigger than the match itself. An online petition calling for “Mbappe out” has almost 32 million signatures, while criticism over his hamstring injury, his trip to Italy during rehabilitation and the noise around Real Madrid has taken over the build-up to El Clasico. He has still scored 24 league goals and 15 Champions League goals this season.

Why the criticism has stuck

The injury story is where the row really started. Mbappe picked up a hamstring injury against Real Betis on April 24 and was later criticised for going to Italy with his partner during rehabilitation. Graham Hunter said Mbappe “came off, saying, 'I can't go on anymore', and he was given a treatment plan”, before adding that he was later pictured on a yacht and a boat during that spell.

That is why the criticism has landed so hard despite the numbers. Mbappe’s 24 La Liga goals and 15 Champions League goals make it clear that this is not a performance issue in the usual sense. It is a debate about how a player at his level should look and act when he is injured.

Antonio Romero put that part plainly when he said Mbappe “has shown that his image, in terms of what the Real Madrid fans might think, matters very little to him.” Julio Pulido added that his image is “also somewhat at stake”, with the optics of his availability now folded into the story around Sunday.

Madrid's wider problems before the Clasico

The Mbappe noise is happening inside a squad already under strain. Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni were involved in a dressing-room altercation, Valverde was taken to hospital and later ruled out of El Clasico, and Real Madrid have fined both players half a million after the incident. That is not the kind of backdrop any club wants before a game of this size.

Barcelona are in a better position on the table as well. They are top of La Liga on 88 points after 34 games, while Madrid are second on 77. Iker Casillas framed the stakes bluntly, saying that if Barça win, Madrid will congratulate them, but his goal as a former Madrid player would be to make sure they do not win the league against them.

Barcelona's form is also cleaner going in, with five straight league wins. Madrid's last five league results are WDWDL, which fits a side that is still competitive but carrying more noise than it can comfortably absorb.

The petition number will keep driving the conversation, and so will the injury episode. But the more damaging part for Kylian Mbappé is that this is no longer a narrow debate about one rehabilitation trip. It has become part of a broader pre-Clásico picture in which Madrid look unsettled, Barcelona look ready, and the scrutiny on Mbappe is only getting louder.