Madrid leaves Mbappé out promo as striker may take legal action against Swedish medium rape insinuation

Allegations of rape against French footballer Kylian Mbappé are "totally false" and "a slanderous rumour", his representatives said on Tuesday after a Swedish prosecutor said a rape investigation had been opened without mentioning the France star's name.

Kylian Mbappé was “shocked” to see his name linked to a Swedish rape investigation, his lawyer told AFP Tuesday.

The France captain, however, is “at ease” because “he has done nothing wrong”, lawyer Marie-Alix Canu-Bernard said.

A Swedish prosecutor said Tuesday that a rape investigation had been opened without mentioning Mbappé, following media reports that the Real Madrid and France star was the suspect following a visit with friends to Stockholm.

Swedish newspapers Aftonbladet and Expressen, and public broadcaster SVT all reported that 25-year-old Mbappé was the target of the investigation, following his two-day visit to the Nordic capital last week.

Mbappé’s lawyer Canu-Bernard said the player was “not aware of the extent of the media frenzy, but is completely calm and does not understand what he could be accused of”.

“He is stunned to hear that it could concern him. He preferred to go to training and asked my office not to leave things as they are because it is impossible to let yourself be slandered and defamed in this way.

“This is the reason why we are going to file a complaint for libel.”

The lawyer said she could neither confirm nor deny claims in Swedish media that Mbappé was the suspect.

“We read the press,” Canu-Bernard said. “The Stockholm prosecutor’s office issued a statement, but it does not allow us to know whether Kylian Mbappé is the target.

“I therefore have no information allowing me to confirm whether this is indeed a complaint filed against him.”

Meanwhile, Real Madrid released a new clothing line on Tuesday called the ‘Artist Pack’, which was due to promote the work of their Foundation and the charity work it does. They did so without superstar Kylian Mbappe appearing in any of the promotional pictures.

This comes following Mbappe’s trip to Stockholm last week, where he stayed in a hotel on Thursday night. Swedish police have confirmed there is an investigation into an alleged rape ongoing, but have not mentioned the French forward whatsoever. Meanwhile, Mbappe has slammed an RMC report that he was involved as ‘FAKE NEWS’.

On Tuesday Los Blancos put out a promotional picture for the Artist Pack without Mbappe, but it became clear that he was present during the original photos.

Jude Bellingham, in a post since deleted, posted about the clothing line on his Instagram with Mbappe in the same picture, as noted by GFFN. It has been claimed by Sportszone that this has nothing to do with recent events, and is simply because Nike objected to one of their athletes appearing in an Adidas campaign.

Equally though, it has been noted that Eduardo Camavinga, who is also a Nike athlete, is involved in the campaign for the clothing line.