Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has downplayed concerns over the injury which forced Kylian Mbappe off against Atalanta on Tuesday night.
Mbappe started brilliantly in Bergamo. Right from the first whistle, the out-of-sorts Frenchman seemed to have regained his signature sharpness, turning Atalanta's Isak Hien inside out on either side of his crisply taken opening goal.
That tenth-minute strike took Mbappe's personal tally to 50 in the Champions League, making him the second-youngest player in the competition's history to hit that landmark. Yet, a promising evening was curtained by injury in the 35th minute.
Under no pressure from any opposition player, the 25-year-old sank to the turf holding his left thigh. Rodrygo, who has been plagued by injuries of his own this season, was hurriedly ushered onto the pitch as his replacement.
Kylian Mbappe
Kylian Mbappe fired Real Madrid in front / Marco Luzzani/GettyImages
Reflecting on a 3-2 victory which keeps Madrid's hopes of automatic qualification for the round of 16 alive, Ancelotti revealed: "Kylian Mbappe's injury does not look serious." The Italian insisted his enforced departure was nothing more than "an overload".
Before he limped off and headed straight down the tunnel, Real Madrid's number nine caught the eye. "Mbappe played well at the start and scored a great goal," Ancelotti beamed. "The key was the mobility up front. Vinicius moved a lot to take the centre-back away from Kylian.
"We scored the third thanks to a change of position between Vinicius and [Jude] Bellingham. Mbappe couldn't give us more and Rodrygo came on for him, but he wasn't 100%. He gave everything he could. With Mbappe at 100%, we could have done much better."
There isn't much time for Madrid's reinvigorated frontline to recover. The Spanish champions make the short trip to Rayo Vallecano on Saturday before jetting off to Qatar for the Intercontinental Cup final - not to be confused with FIFA's new Club World Cup tournament this summer.
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