Mbappe will start against Villarreal — Mourinho

Jose Mourinho has called criticism of Kylian Mbappé “ridiculous,” defending the Real Madrid star’s conduct during the international break, and confirming that the forward will start in today’s LaLiga game with Villarreal.

Mbappé picked up an injury in his first game on duty with France on September 25, and then drew criticism for trips to Paris and Switzerland during his recovery, including posting video of himself riding a bike on social media, despite Mourinho’s citing of cycling as an example of an activity which footballers shouldn’t undertake.

Madrid go into today’s game at the Bernabéu six points behind leaders Barcelona on the table, with a demanding October fixture list culminating in El Clásico at Camp Nou on October 25.

“It’s ridiculous,” Mourinho said in a news conference on Friday, when asked if criticism of Mbappé’s behaviour was exaggerated.

“I thought there were enough real ‘cases’ in the football world in the last few weeks, but it seems like they weren’t enough.

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“There are giant cases like the [Manchester City] one, like the old story you don’t like to talk about [Negreira], like the difficult situation in my country with Cristiano Ronaldo and his coach.

“But it hasn’t been enough. Real Madrid is Real Madrid. I thought the first question might be about real things, a difficult game. But here we are.”

Mbappé has delivered in terms of goalscoring in his two seasons in Madrid — and is among the candidates for the Ballon d’Or after his World Cup performance for France this summer, but hasn’t managed to land a major trophy with his club.