This was supposed to be a dream seven days for Real Madrid.Announce the signing of Kylian Mbappe – arguably the world’s most coveted player – at the start of the week, and win the Champions League at the end of it.That was the expectation from club president Florentino Perez, who had been ultra confident a deal for the World Cup-winning France forward would be done.That Mbappe chose to stay at Paris St-Germain has not gone down well. The Madrid press have been apoplectic, to the point that in the early part of this week all coverage was about the non-deal rather than the small matter of Saturday’s final against Liverpool.The fallout has involved Karim Benzema courting controversy, but may actually end up being good news for some of the Bernabeu club’s key players.Either way, it has certainly not been the build-up to their bid for a 14th Champions League title that Real Madrid had been expecting.If Kylian Mbappe sees out his contract at PSG, he will have been at the club for eight yearsWhile Liverpool’s preparations for the Paris final have involved coming to terms with the disappointment of missing out on the Premier League title by a point to Manchester City, the Real Madrid squad have had an entirely different setback to contend with.There is certainly an element of disappointment coming from within their camp at the failure to sign Mbappe, because many of the group were looking forward to the chance of playing with him, not least because… Click below to read the full story from BBC Sport
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Champions League final: How Kylian Mbappe fallout has affected Real Madrid’s build-up
