Mourinho calls Mbappé nightclub row 'ridiculous', hits out at press

📰 José Mourinho has come out fighting for Kylian Mbappé, dismissing the nightclub and bike-ride row as "ridiculous". 📌 Key points 🎙️ Mourinho called the criticism of Mbappé "ridiculous". 🪩 He said the "nightclub" was a private Paris Fashion Week venue. 🚲 The Swiss bike clip was at a hotel where guests cycle between cottages. 🧠 "You don't have to be Einstein" to see the aim, he told the press. ⚽ Mbappé will start against Villarreal on 10 October. 📝 What happened 🩹 Mbappé hyperextended his left knee playing for France in a 1-0 win over Turkey on 25 September. According to Sporza, Madrid's doctors approved a trip to Paris because the injury only required active rest. 🪩 A video then emerged of him entering a Paris nightclub with his girlfriend Ester Expósito. He followed it with a clip of himself cycling in Switzerland, which many linked to Mourinho's earlier warning that players should not ski or ride bikes. 🎙️ At his pre-Villarreal press conference on 9 October, Mourinho rejected it all. He said the club had been turned into a private Fashion Week venue and the Swiss hotel was a quiet complex where bikes are used to get around. Mbappé's knee was also checked by an outside specialist, whose diagnosis matched the club's. 🔥 He said the aim of the coverage was to get the Bernabéu to whistle Mbappé, adding that you don't have to be Einstein to see it. A player who failed Real Madrid would not even be on the bench, he said, so fans would have no chance to whistle him, and Mbappé plays because he has not let the club down. 📊 By the numbers • Mbappé injury: 25 September, France v Turkey (left knee) • Villarreal at the Bernabéu: 10 October • Gap to leaders Barcelona: 6 points • El Clásico at Camp Nou: 25 October 🔭 Why it matters After last season's yacht photos, Mourinho has again shielded his biggest star from an off-field storm, this time by taking on the media directly. The first test is how the Bernabéu receives Mbappé against Villarreal on 10 October, before Roma away on 14 October and El Clásico on 25 October.