it was just the first game of the tournament, but it did not go well for France captain Kylian Mbappe. The superstar of superstars is a recently minted new member of Real Madrid, but the celebrative mood for that transfer deal is now over.
He left France’s 1-0 win over Austria, at the 2024 European Championships, with a bloodied nose, perhaps an additional head injury of some sort, and a yellow card.
Mbappé qui tire sur l’extrême droite pour dissiper toute ambiguïté après sa conférence? pic.twitter.com/3nN5ohjNwa
— Zizou ? (@zinedineblc) June 17, 2024
Mbappe also failed to score, as he blatantly missed the best chance of the entire match, for both sides.
Still France held on to take all three points from the group stage opener.
The 25-year-old forward suffered a horrific looking injury when he headed the shoulder of Austria defender Kevin Danso. Mbappe then went to ground, where he required medical treatment on the pitch.
After the match, France manager Didier Deschamps said the star player’s nose injury was “not good at all.”
He’ll very likely need wear a protective mask the rest of the tournament, as he may have actually suffered a broken nose. Compounding his problems, Mbappe was booked for a yellow when he tried to re-enter the game.
In coming back on the pitch, he fell back to the ground and you are simply not allowed to do that.
Both the booking and the injury have now complicated things for Mbappe, Deschamps and France the rest of the way. Having finished runner-up, by the very slimmest of margins to Argentina at the World Cup, they are consensus favorites to win this edition of the Euros.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to Ravens Wire, part of the USA Today SMG’s NFL Wire Network and the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and the Washington Times. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.