The France international was always a doubt to start the final after sustaining a knee injury on New Year’s Eve. Mbappé was sidelined for Los Blancos’ 5–1 victory over Real Betis and did not even make Xabi Alonso’s Spanish Super Cup squad.

As damaging as Sunday’s Spanish Super Cup defeat to Barcelona was for Xabi Alonso’s credibility as Real Madrid manager, the scenes after the game ultimately finished him off.

"Mbappé is like the young Luke Skywalker. You know that, sooner or later, he'll rule the world. He's a beast!" he wrote.