Kylian Mbappé has been named as a substitute for France‘s Euro 2024 clash with the Netherlands 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 Group D fixture. France’s federation confirmed that 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.
Without Mbappé, France coach Didier Deschamps elected to start with a forward three of Ousmane Dembélé, Marcus Thuram and Antoine Griezmann.
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 on Thursday that his team were 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.