Real Madrid star Kylian Mbappé has been hospitalized ‘to treat an acute case of gastroenteritis,’ the club announced Thursday.
Mbappé will ‘undergo a series of tests and follow the appropriate course of treatment,” the team said.
The French World Cup champion was dealing with a fever, the club said earlier this week. He did not practice Tuesday and did not play Wednesday in Real Madrid’s 1-1 draw against Al-Hilal in the FIFA Club World Cup at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.
The latest update casts doubt on whether Mbappé will be able to participate in the Club World Cup. He is undoubtedly the biggest star in the tournament outside of Argentine World Cup champion Lionel Messi.
‘I don’t know if he will be back for the next game. We’ll see. He wasn’t doing well in the last two days. He’s sick,” Real Madrid coach Xabi Alonso said after the draw Wednesday, before Mbappé was hospitalized.
Alonso said Mbappé was ‘feeling a bit better, but not fully fit,’ during a press conference Tuesday.
‘We thought it was not best for him to go to the training session. We’ll see how he evolves,’ Alonso said of Mbappé, a day before the Al-Hilal match. ‘We’re going to be waiting for him until the last minute.’
Real Madrid has two matches remaining in the Club World Cup group stage. They will meet CF Pachuca (Mexico) on June 22 at 3 p.m. ET inside Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C., then face FC Salzburg (Austria) June 26 at 9 p.m. ET inside Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.
FC Salzburg sits atop the Club World Cup Group H standings with three points after beating Pachuca 2-1 Wednesday. Real Madrid and Al-Hilal each have a point after their draw, while Pachuca has zero points after the first match for each club.
