France captain Kylian Mbappe suffered a broken nose during his team’s victory over Austria at Euro 2024 on Monday, which could hamper his ability to represent the national team for the remainder of the tournament but not end his participation.
The French medical team quickly confirmed to national channel TF1 that Mbappé’s nose was indeed broken and although The Team reports While surgery was initially planned at the University of Düsseldorf, the decision was made not to operate on the World Cup winner – for now.
“Kylian Mbappé suffers a broken nose”, confirmed the French Football Federation via a press release “He is back at camp with the rest of the team and will receive treatment in the coming days without undergoing immediate surgery,” the French press reported on Monday evening.
“A mask will be made to allow the number 10 of the French team to consider returning to competition after a period of treatment,” added the FFF, of which Mbappé then sought to see the bright side by asking for mask design ideas via social networks.
France coach Didier Deschamps was brief in his post-match assessment of Mbappe’s injury but admitted it was one of the low points of the night.
“Kylian’s nose is not well at all,” said coach Didier Deschamps. told TF1 moments after the final whistle. “We’ll see, but that’s obviously the biggest negative to take away from this evening.”
However, he added further details on Tuesday in an interview that was published by the Blues’ social media accounts who confirmed that possible surgery will be necessary while the FFF acknowledged that Mbappe ‘remains uncertain’ for Friday’s match against the Netherlands before adding that “a new update will be carried out on Wednesday”.
“There will be further tests on Wednesday to see how it progresses,” said the French coach. “It’s obviously a hard blow and the medical staff did what was necessary to reduce the impact as much as possible.”
“Although it won’t be immediate, he will eventually have to undergo surgery. He was already feeling a little better on Tuesday morning, so we will monitor that and how he is doing each day.”
Mbappe clashed with Austrian defender Kevin Danso in the 86th minute and went off with blood all over his face and shirt, with medical staff quickly establishing that his nose was badly damaged.
Austrian goalkeeper Patrick Pentz urged the medical team to pay attention to Mbappe moments after the incident and they worked on the player for several minutes.
Mbappe then tried to return to the pitch but fell to the ground shortly afterwards and was subsequently replaced in the 90th minute by veteran striker Olivier Giroud.
Before his injury, Mbappe had played a key role in France’s victory, forcing Maximilian Wober’s own goal in the 38th minute to ensure they started the Euros on a winning note.
Mbappe is still expected to play a big role for France as they aim to win the Euros for the first time since 2000, but even if he is cleared to return immediately by the medical team, he could now face another problem in terms of availability.
In his attempt to rejoin the match, Mbappe returned to the pitch without the referee’s permission and was given a yellow card for doing so – players will be suspended for one match at the Euros if they receive two yellow cards, and cautions will not be cleared until the quarter-finals.
France resumes Euro 2024 on Friday against the Netherlands in Leipzig, with first place in Group D at stake.
