One can argue that the September international break has come at an opportune time for Real Madrid. The Merengues lost their first derby of the season, falling to Atletico Madrid in their last game before the break. Before that, they had also lost to Real Betis, which means they are now six points below the league leaders, FC Barcelona.

The international break provided the Merengue club with some time to reflect on their shortcomings and to work out a plan to get over them. However, Los Blancos have seen their troubles only increase in this break.

First, they saw Ibrahima Konate, who has already established himself as one of the most important defenders for Jose Mourinho at this start of the season, getting injured while training with the French national team. Then, they saw another crucial player, Kylian Mbappe, also getting injured while playing for France .

The French forward was the main difference-maker for his national team in the opening game of the UEFA Nations League against Turkiye, as he scored the only goal of the game. However, right after shooting the ball for this goal, he showed signs of immense pain, and was shortly substituted out by Zinedine Zidane.

As Diario AS has reported, the Real Madrid legend and the newly appointed France national team coach talked to TF1 after the match, and provided some insights on Mbappe’s injury. The Frenchman’s comments were not too reassuring for the Merengue club:

“Unfortunately, Mbappé’s injury is not looking good. I think he will have to return to Madrid. We are not going to take any risks. He suffered a hyperextension of his knee while taking a shot. It is certainly not a good sign if he is to continue playing.”

For now, Kylian Mbappe is set to return to Real Madrid, where more tests are set to be carried out on him. One can only hope that the forward is not suffering from anything serious, especially as he has already faced some problems in this same left knee in recent past, and also because Los Blancos would need him as they are going to enter another crucial phase of the season after the end of the international break.