Euro 2024 was supposed to be another international stage for Kylian Mbappe to flex his muscles and power France to a piece of major silverware. However, their dreams were shattered by a dominant Spain in the semi-finals on Tuesday night.
Les Bleus were dogged by criticism of their playing style under Didier Deschamps throughout the tournament, only scoring their first goal from open play in the final-four defeat to La Roja.
While Mbappe has enjoyed two successful World Cups in his career so far, his efforts at the two European Championships he has participated in have both resulted in disappointment, managing only one goal from nine appearances in total at UEFA’s flagship international tournament.
So where did it go wrong for the new Real Madrid forward this year?
France were far from impressive in their first Group D match against Austria, getting over the line thanks to a 38th-minute own goal from Max Wober.
Mbappe was largely subdued during the encounter, hitting the target with only one of his four shots, and suffered a major injury blow when he collided with Kevin Danso. France later confirmed he had broken his nose.
The injury saw the 25-year-old miss the next group game against the Netherlands. It ended goalless, but when Mbappe next emerged he was far from comfortable…
Plenty of professional footballers have been forced into wearing face masks due to awkward injuries.
Stars like Victor Osimhen, Son Heung-min, Harry Kane, Josko Gvardiol and Robert Lewandowski have all sported protective equipment in recent years with varying degrees of discomfort, but Mbappe made no secret of his distaste of the appliance.
He said: “As soon as I can take it off, I’m going to take it off. Now I have no choice, I’m not going to play without it. It’s annoying. You saw that I changed five times but there weren’t all the photos, I changed more than that. My competition is going to be like that and it won’t be an excuse because I can only play like that, I have to say thank you to the mask.”
Manager Deschamps had previously revealed: “Despite everything he has gone through, a week after the blow, it was complicated. I thought he was quite good on his feet with the mask. He needed to get used to it. But when he sweats, that sticks in his eyes and he needed to wipe his eyes.
“He’s hungry to play and the game would have done him some good, especially given what we’re…
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