France striker and captain Kylian Mbappé, who suffered a broken nose, will be part of his country’s starting lineup against Poland on Tuesday, in Dortmund, during the third round of Group D, as announced by a source close to the team, and not as he remained on the bench last match.
Mbappe suffered a broken nose during the first match against Austria (1-0) on June 17 and missed the top match against the Netherlands (0-0) on Friday.
French national football team coach Didier Deschamps earlier confirmed that Mbappe’s condition had improved, without specifying whether or not he would play against Poland.
“It’s better every day, he’s better today than yesterday and the day before, after the treatment the hematoma has gone well and he’s getting used to the mask. He wants to play tomorrow as much as he wanted to play against Holland (Friday in the second round),” Deschamps said at a press conference on the eve of the match.
He added: “The mask is not obstructive, but it limits vision a little, and in some cases, it limits the angle of view a little. “He has to get used to it, even if today’s technologies make it possible to make the thinnest masks possible.”
For his part, midfielder N’Golo Kante considered that Mbappe’s return could help the team, which has not scored any goals in two matches, to score and win matches, as the winning goal against Austria in the first round was scored by the latter’s defender Maximilian Wober by mistake into his own team’s goal, while the second match against the Netherlands ended in a goalless draw.
Mbappe participated on Saturday in his first match since his injury against the youth team of Paderborn, the city where the French national team is camped, then participated normally in a very light training session on Sunday and then the session on Monday.
France occupies second place in Group D with three points on goal difference behind leaders Netherlands, while Poland occupies last place without a score and left the tournament empty-handed.