2024-06-30 10:55:02
Kylian Mbappé remained on the substitutes’ bench for the full 90 minutes as France were held to a 0-0 draw by the Netherlands at Euro 2024 on Friday, days after breaking his nose in the team’s first game of the tournament.
Mbappé, 25, collided with Austria‘s Kevin Danso in the second half of Monday’s 1-0 win for France. France’s federation confirmed Mbappé wouldn’t need surgery, though he is set to wear a mask for the remainder of the tournament, and whether he would participate against the Netherlands in any capacity was in question.
Aurélien Tchouaméni was named in the midfield to replace Mbappé as the only change for Didier Deschamps’ France side in a rejigged lineup. Antoine Griezmann moved forward into an attacking trio alongside Ousmane Dembélé, Marcus Thuram.
Despite France failing to find the net, Deschamps opted to leave Mbappé on the bench ahead of France’s final game of the group stage, against Poland on Tuesday.
France and the Netherlands are level on four points at the top of the group standings, with Austria on three, while Poland have no points and cannot advance.
Mbappé trained wearing a mask adorning the colours of the French flag on Thursday, and Didier Deschamps said: “Everything is going well, after the shock we had.”
The rules of European football’s governing body UEFA mean Mbappé will only be allowed to wear a single-colour mask should Deschamps choose to bring him on.
Ronald Koeman, the Netherlands manager, said in his news conference Thursday that his team was prepared to face a quality opponent regardless of the new Real Madrid man’s fitness.
“France is such a strong team that even if Mbappé is not playing, the substitute will be a great player as well,” Koeman said.
“Not everything depends on whether Mbappé is there or not. We know that he can be a game changer. He had a big influence on the last two games, two qualification games, but it doesn’t depend on us.”
France and the Netherlands are level on three points in Group D. The Dutch came from behind to beat Poland 2-1, and France needed an own goal to beat Austria.
France have won seven of the teams’ past eight meetings, including home and away victories in qualifying.
Mbappé is yet to score in European Championship football in five attempts.
