France surprisingly lost to Germany (2-1) in a friendly match on Tuesday evening, and it seems Les Bleus can't manage without Kylian Mbappé. The 24-year-old forward was missing from the starting lineup of national coach Didier Deschamps due to a knee injury.
France had been flawless in 2023, but after the loss to Germany, the 2018 world champions have lost their unbeaten status. A notable detail for the French: it was the fourth consecutive time that Les Bleus failed to win in a match where Mbappé wasn't on the pitch from the first whistle. 'Kylian had an issue with a knee tendon,' Deschamps admitted after the game. 'He couldn't start, and in the end, he couldn't come on as a substitute either.'
In addition to the game against Germany, Mbappé was absent in the matches against Croatia and Austria (both 1-1) in 2022, and during the group match at the 2022 World Cup against Tunisia. In that 1-0 loss, the Paris Saint-Germain star was given a rest.
Deschamps was angry about the performance of Les Bleus. 'We were consistently late in the challenges and in our positioning, leading to Germany's opening goal. I won't go as far as saying we gifted them two goals, although the second was avoidable too,' the manager said in an interview with TF1.
France is the upcoming opponent for the Dutch national team in Group B of the European Championship qualifiers. On October 13th, both countries will face each other in the Johan Cruijff Arena. The first match in Paris was won by France with a 4-0 scoreline. In that match, Mbappé scored two of his total of forty goals in the French jersey. Mbappé needed 71 international matches to achieve this.
