France's national soccer coach Didier Deschamps will be without superstar Kylian Mbappé in the starting line-up against the Netherlands this Friday, according to French media reports. The 25-year-old will therefore sit on the bench for the time being. Mbappé suffered a broken nose during France's 1-0 opening win against Austria on Monday. He took part in the final training session at the European Championship stadium in Leipzig on Thursday wearing a protective mask in the French national colors.
Mbappé will have to be patient, wrote the sports newspaper "L'Équipe" on Friday. As "Le Parisien" also wrote, he is said to have only completed light exercises in the final training session. In the first 15 minutes, which were open to the media, he had mainly struggled with his mask. He had to adjust it again and again, and support staff also had to help. In the subsequent minutes of training behind closed doors, he is said to have hit passes as he had the day before, but not trained fully with the team.
It is speculated that without captain Mbappé, Antoine Griezmann and Marcus Thuram will form an attacking duo this Friday at 21:00 (ARD and MagentaTV).
If Mbappé is to play in the potentially decisive match, he will not be allowed to wear the blue, white and red mask from training. According to UEFA regulations, parts such as these must be solid-colored. However, as reported by radio network RMC Sport, among others, several masks are said to have already been made for Mbappé.
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