Still celebrating Spain’s Euro 2024 triumph, Real Madrid fans will have even more reason to cheer on Tuesday when French star Kylian Mbappe is officially unveiled at the packed Santiago Bernabeu stadium. With an expected audience of 85,000 people, the stadium will be full for Mbappe’s first appearance in front of fans, in what should beat the record set 15 years ago by Cristiano Ronaldo. Although the tickets were free, they were snapped up quickly and some fans tried to resell them to capitalize on the excitement surrounding the arrival of the world’s best striker.
During the morning, Mbappé will sign his new five-year contract with Real president Florentino Perez, before entering the stadium at noon (10am GMT) to greet fans, after which he will hold a press conference.
Although his new teammates began training on Monday, the striker, who captained France at the Euros, will have a few more days off before starting the season in the Spanish capital.
Club doctors will want to examine his nose, which was broken during France’s 1-0 victory over Austria on June 18 during the group stage, although France were later knocked out in the semi-finals by Spain.
For Mbappé and Real Madrid, it is the culmination of a long-awaited connection.
The 25-year-old player – who says he is always a fan of Los Blancos and Ronaldo – will wear the number 9 shirt which went on sale last Thursday in Real stores and which bears his image.
‘Excitement and humility’
Coming from Paris Saint-Germain, who he joined in 2017, Mbappe arrives after a disappointing Euro campaign for him personally, where his star image was overshadowed by that of new Spanish teenage sensation Lamine Yamal.
And it comes after a difficult season with PSG, following the decision not to renew his contract, with the striker – who was the Parisian club’s all-time top scorer – admitting he felt “liberated, relieved” with his transfer. For the real.
“It’s an immense pleasure and a dream come true. This is the club I always dreamed of being at,” he said in June.
“I’m going there with a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of humility.”
At Real, he will be part of a new attacking trio alongside English midfielder Jude Bellingham and Brazilian striker Vinicius Junior, under the supervision of Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti.
And the prospect is already encouraging fans of the club that won its 15th Champions League title in June.
Also current champions of the Spanish La Liga, Los Blancos begin their campaign with an early season match against Real Mallorca on the weekend of August 17-18.
Even so, Mbappé’s debut may have to wait until the following week, when Real Madrid face Real Valladolid, recently promoted from the second division.
The club hopes to offset the costs – a salary of 15 million euros per season and a signing bonus of more than 100 million euros – through sponsorship deals and ticket and merchandise sales, among other things.
And Mbappe hopes the move will finally see him win the Champions League and the Ballon d’Or, two of his life goals.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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