France team bosses sweat over Kylian Mbappé's facial injury

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.

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