Kylian Mbappé an unused substitute in Real Madrid’s loss to Man City in the Champions League

MADRID (AP) — Kylian Mbappé was an unused substitute in Real Madrid’s 2-1 loss to Manchester City in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Mbappé, who has scored 25 goals for Madrid this season, was left out of Madrid’s starting lineup and stayed on the bench following reports of a minor knee injury.

Madrid coach Xabi Alonso said it was too early to know whether the player will be able to play Sunday at Alaves in the Spanish league.

“We’ll go day-by-day,” he said after the match. “Today he wasn’t fit to play, otherwise he would’ve played. We miss him, but we had enough scoring opportunities without him.”

The forward was among those complaining from the Madrid bench when City scored a first-half equalizer. Mbappé talked to the fourth official, pointing to a possible foul on Madrid defender Antonio Rüdiger during the corner-kick cross into the area.

The visitors won 2-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium, increasing pressure on coach Xabi Alonso.

Madrid has won only just two of its last eight games in all competitions and fell to a 2-0 home loss to Celta Vigo in the Spanish league on Sunday.

Mbappé nursed a right ankle injury that kept him out of France’s squad last month, and most recently he fractured a finger in his left hand. The France striker trained separately from his teammates on Tuesday.

Mbappé has been in outstanding form this season and had scored seven goals in his previous three games before ending that streak against Celta. He is the leading scorer in both the Champions League and the Spanish league.

Gonzalo García was named at the point of Madrid’s attack on Wednesday. He was replaced by Arda Güler in the 58th minute. The other Madrid players to come on were Brahim Díaz, replacing Dani Ceballos in the 67th, and Endrick for Raúl Asencio in the 79th.

Mbappé didn’t even warm up with the rest of the substitutes during the game.

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