Kylian Mbappe has unveiled the mask he will wear for the rest of Euro 2024 after suffering a broken nose in France’s opening game
The French captain picked up the nasty injury in his side’s 1-0 win over Austria on Monday.
He was pictured at France’s training base in Paderborn on Wednesday wearing a protective covering on his nose, and later trained on his own away from the rest of the squad, before getting involved in shooting drills.
And on Thursday, Mbappe trained wearing a new mask in the tricolore colours of the French flag.
While Mbappe does not require immediate surgery on the injury, France are still monitoring his condition and are hesitant to put a timescale on his recovery, as Friday’s match against the Netherlands looms, but the new mask suggested could be back in the team very soon.
Earlier, the diagnosis had been fairly encouraging from two of his teammates.
“A fractured nose isn’t the end of the world,” midfielder Adrien Rabiot said Wednesday through a translator at a lunchtime news conference in Paderborn, where France holds its training sessions at Euro 2024, “and Kylian should be with us pretty soon.”
William Saliba said he spoke to Mbappe and reported the striker was feeling a “bit better”.
Mbappe broke his nose when his face collided with the shoulder of Austria defender Kevin Danso. Blood was seen pouring from Mbappe’s badly swollen nose, turning parts of his white France jersey red.
“I saw him this morning, he was a bit better,” Saliba said. “I think he was off to do more tests. I don’t know anything more. But when I saw him this morning, he was a bit better.”
Rabiot has compared the injury to one suffered by his teammate at Juventus, goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny. The Poland international broke his nose against Torino in April, underwent surgery and was back in the team the following week.
The president of the France Football Federation Philippe Diallo told a news conference that it was “too soon to know” if Mbappe will be able to play a part in the rest of the tournament, even as plans were being made for the 25-year-old to wear a protective mask should he return.
Mbappe was taken to hospital after colliding with Austria defender Kevin Danso’s shoulder in the 1-0 win in Dusseldorf, with the match overshadowed by the injury to Real Madrid’s new signing.
Mbappe, who was booked after re-entering the pitch following treatment, was pictured leaving the stadium in an ambulance after the game and even joked on social media, asking his followers for “any ideas for masks?”
However, France are remaining cautious ahead of facing the Netherlands.
“The first responses were quite positive as there is no surgery planned for the moment,” Diallo said. “Now it is too soon to know if he will be able to play for the remainder of the tournament, or to provide a schedule for his situation.
“Obviously there were some medical examinations performed on site to know more about Kylian Mbappe’s nose and they made some conclusions pretty quickly. They tried to reduce the aftermath of his fracture, for him to be able to remain in the tournament.
“As I said, there is no surgery planned for the moment and we are still waiting for things to evolve later in order to know more about the conditions of his participation in the remainder of the tournament.”
Head coach Didier Deschamps, who described Mbappe’s injury as a “big negative” on the night, said the forward was getting better by the following morning.
“There will still be exams tomorrow to make sure we see how things evolve,” Deschamps said in a video interview with the France Football Federation posted on social media.
“The medical staff did what was necessary to reduce it as much as possible. Even if it will not be immediately, he will have to undergo surgery. Already this morning he was a little better, so we will see that and monitor it closely every day.”
France held on in Dusseldorf to open their Euro 2024 with a victory, joining Netherlands on three points after their opening Group D win over Poland.
Additional reporting by AP