Xabi Alonso’s three options to cover for the injured Kylian Mbappe | OneFootball

Kylian Mbappe’s knee injury and subsequent three-week exile come at the worst possible time for Real Madrid.

The player seemingly played through pain in the final games of 2025, notably the Copa del Rey opener against Talavera, and his setback appears to be a consequence of the poor management of minutes.

Now, the player is likely to miss the entire Spanish Super Cup, leaving Alonso in a tricky situation. With Endrick also no longer at the club, the manager has his options further cut short.

Three options

As relayed by Defensa Central, Alonso has three options to deal with the new attacking crisis, and each solution provides a unique dynamic to the team.

The first option, and perhaps the most direct of all, is to deploy Gonzalo Garcia and the manager sees the youngster to be capable of handling the goalscoring pressure.

He has not had many minutes this season, but one remembers his run at the FIFA Club World Cup as a testament to his quality.

Mbappe will be a big miss for Real Madrid. (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)

The second option Alonso considers is reverting to a 4-4-2 by dropping one attacker and playing with an additional midfielder.

If such a solution is sought, Vinicius Jr. and Rodrygo Goes could well feature as the forwards with either Dani Ceballos or Eduardo Camavinga adding a body in midfield.

Such a solution will improve Real Madrid’s stability and dynamic through the middle, albeit at the cost of some attacking firepower.

The final solution Alonso views as an option is to incorporate a false 9 into the team, essentially utilising a midfield profile as the third and central attacker to hover in the spaces behind the forwards and create attacking threats.

Jude Bellingham will be the chosen one if Alonso does opt for a false 9 system, given his instincts in the box and goalscoring ability. It would be a very radical solution, but one that Alonso must think through well before deploying.