\n<\/p>\n
Of course, it wouldn’t be Real Madrid if a disastrous season didn’t unfold against the backdrop of some serious off-field drama, and Mbappe found himself at the centre of that on more than one occasion, with the fans even turning on him in the final throes.<\/span><\/p>\n According to <\/span>The Athletic<\/em><\/i>the 27-year-old was involved in an ugly confrontation with a member of the club’s backroom staff before the meeting with Real Betis in late April, where he <\/span>aimed a volley of abuse at a coach who called him offside in a training match<\/span><\/a> – a reflection of the overall toxic atmosphere that engulfed the club during the futile run-in.<\/span><\/p>\n Mbappe then suffered a hamstring injury in the clash with Betis, but rather than recover at Madrid’s Valdebebas training base, he used some time off to <\/span>go on holiday to Sardinia with his girlfriend, high-profile Spanish actor Ester Exposito<\/span><\/a>and was pictured on a yacht around the same time his club were facing Espanyol in La Liga.<\/span><\/p>\n It was a decision that drew criticism internally and from the outside. While <\/span>Arbeloa defended his player<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>an ‘Mbappe out’ online petition subsequently went viral, garnering some 12 million signatures in less than 24 hours<\/span><\/a> and eventually passing 70 million. The striker then missed the Clasico where Real handed Barca the title as he was still deemed unfit, excusing himself from training with the would-be substitutes due to ‘discomfort’, before returning to the bench against Real Oviedo in mid-May.<\/span><\/p>\n However, that was something Mbappe himself took issue with; unusually stopping to speak to the media after coming on as a substitute, the forward pointedly said he was “100 percent” and claimed he hadn’t started the game because Arbeloa had told him he had been demoted to ‘fourth-choice striker’. It was later reported that the Frenchman’s frustration <\/span>stemmed from Alonso’s sacking<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n