Arbeloa 'confident' Mbappe will be back for Man City trip in Champions League

[p]"He's getting better day by day," [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/arbeloa-alvaro/CO9bjrLo/"]Arbeloa[/a] said at a press conference. [b]"He won't be there tomorrow (Saturday, in La Liga against [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/elche/4jl02tPF/"]Elche[/a]), but I'm confident he'll be on the trip to Manchester."[/b][/p][p]With [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/mbappe-kylian/Wn6E2SED/"]Mbappe[/a] sidelined by a knee injury and several other key players missing, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/real-madrid/W8mj7MDD/"]Real[/a] thrashed [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/manchester-city/Wtn9Stg0/"]City[/a] 3–0 in the first leg at the Bernabeu on Wednesday, thanks to a hat-trick from [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/valverde-federico/nscfER6B/"]Federico Valverde[/a].[/p][embed guid="f1e63005-d4b9-4a45-b93b-b85024a84747" url="https://x.com/ESPNFC/status/2031849768792539406?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]City host the second leg next Tuesday and risk being knocked out of Europe by Madrid for the third season in a row.[/p][p]France forward Mbappe, hampered by a sprain to his left knee since late December, has not played since withdrawing from the squad to face [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/benfica/zBkyuyRI/"]Benfica[/a] in the second leg of the Champions League knockout phase play-off round on February 25th.[/p][p]Mbappe has scored 38 goals in 33 appearances for his club this season.[/p][p]His expected return to Madrid comes ahead of the international break, during which France will face Brazil and Colombia in pre-World Cup friendlies in the United States.[/p]