Mbappé out of France’s starting lineup and on bench for Euro 2024 clash with Netherlands

LEIPZIG, Germany (AP) — Kylian Mbappé has been left out of France’s starting lineup for its European Championship clash with the Netherlands. He was named among the substitutes.

Mbappé hadn’t been certain to start on Friday after breaking his nose on Monday in the opening 1-0 win over Austria.

Mbappé trained wearing a face mask on Thursday and coach Didier Deschamps sounded optimistic that his star forward would be able to play.

But Deschamps evidently decided it was not worth the risk to start him against the physical Dutch defenders.

Deschamps opted to go with Antoine Griezmann, Marcus Thuram and the unpredictable Ousmane Dembélé up front. Griezmann played further back against Austria, but Real Madrid midfielder Aurélien Tchouaméni has recovered from injury to start, and Griezmann can expect to play closer to the goal.

Mbappé appeared relaxed when he got off the team bus upon arrival at the stadium. He wore sunglasses but no bandage on his nose as he had when he resumed light training on Wednesday.

France and the Netherlands are level on three points in Group D. France has won seven of the teams’ last eight meetings.

Austria defeated Poland 3-1 in their second group game earlier Friday.

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AP Euro 2024: https://apnews.com/hub/euro-2024

The Associated Press