France football team head coach Didier Deschamps was sweating on Tuesday over the fitness of skipper and star striker Kylian Mbappé who injured his nose in a collision towards the end of his side's 1-0 win over Austria in their opening game at the European championships in Germany.
Mbappé's face smashed into the shoulder of Austria defender Kevin Danso as they both challenged for the ball in the penalty area at the start of nine minutes of second-half stoppage-time.
Though play moved swiftly out of the Austrian box, Mbappé remained sprawled on the pitch at the Düsseldorf Arena prompting the Austria goalkeeper Patrick Pentz to signal for medics.
They ran onto the field, managed to stem the blood gushing from Mbappé's nose and led him off for further treatment.
However, in a haphazard denouement, he returned to the fray but was handed a yellow card for coming on without permission when he sat on the pitch clutching his face. He was later replaced by Olivier Giroud.
“Kylian didn’t get off lightly,” said France coach Didier Deschamps. “He’s not doing well. His nose got badly hit that’s for sure."
During the early hours of Tuesday morning, Philippe Diallo, president of the French Football Federation, confirmed that Mbappé would not require an operation.
However, his participation in the second Group D match on 21 June in Leipzig against the Netherlands remained unclear.
Chance
The 25-year-old, who will start his career at Real Madrid after Euro 2024, was playing his 80th game for France on Monday night.
And he missed a glorious chance to score his 50th goal for his country – and his first at a European championships – 10 minutes after the half-time pause.
Danso and fellow defender Maximilian Wöber outsprinted, Mbappé only had Pentz to beat but he curled his effort past the right post.
The only goal of the game came just before half-time. Mbappé's surge of fleet feet fooled defender Phillipp Mwene and his cross into the box for a France teammate instead found the head of Wöber who diverted the ball past Pentz.
“I’m not going to go into hypothesis,” said Deschamps. "The French team with Kylian would always be stronger.
"But if the news doesn’t go along the good lines then we’ll have to fight without him. But Kylian is Kylian and any team with him in the squad is obviously a lot stronger.”
Return
Mbappé's injury eclipsed a sparkling return to the France team for N'Golo Kanté after a two-year absence due to a loss of form and persistent injuries.
The 33-year-old moved from the Premier League outfit Chelsea to the Saudi Pro League club Al-Ittihad in June 2023. And there were raised eyebrows when Deschamps included the 2018 World Cup winner in his squad.
But Kanté, who won the 2021 Champions League with Chelsea, vindicated Deschamps' faith.
Kanté dazzled with his omnipresence, munificence and perceptive passing.
"Everything was not perfect but we have the result we wanted," said the midfielder who was deemed man-of-the-match. "This is a good start. There are solid foundations but we have to be more efficient.
"It makes me happy to be back," he added. "Things have changed but it feels good to be back in the France jersey."
