Kylian Mbappé suffered an injury in the same spot as his previous one during a match in which he scored an incredible goal for France.
It was a perfect night in many ways — a brilliant goal, an assist for another, and a team victory — but the ending was far from ideal for Mbappé. He had to leave the pitch due to the injury. France has another match coming up soon, and the concern from Paris is already reaching Madrid. Real Madrid will be watching anxiously to learn the extent of the forward’s injury.
In France’s 3-0 World Cup qualifying win over Azerbaijan, Mbappé opened the scoring, netting a stunning goal just before halftime. He also contributed to the team’s second goal.
Mbappé has been unstoppable this season, scoring in 10 consecutive matches. Between club and country, he now has 17 goals in 15 matches, missing the net in only a single game.
While opponents couldn’t stop him, an injury did. He left the pitch in the 83rd minute, experiencing discomfort.
There were already doubts about his availability for the match due to an ankle problem. He had to train separately for some time but returned to play after receiving clearance from the physiotherapist.
After the game, France coach Didier Deschamps confirmed that Mbappé had re-injured the same spot.
“Kylian is in great shape… he is the leader, the captain. He was in fantastic form in September too. But his ankle had an injury, and as often happens, he was hit again in the same spot. The pain kept increasing, so he felt it was best to leave the pitch,” Deschamps said.
The severity of the injury to the 26-year-old star will only be clear after further tests.
France will face Iceland on Monday in World Cup qualifying, so there is understandable concern about his fitness.
Even with a comfortable win over Azerbaijan, Deschamps was not fully satisfied with his team’s performance.
“We got the expected result, but not the performance, especially in the first half. Our passing was very slow and lifeless. You can’t just assume the goals will come on their own, and I couldn’t get my players to create enough disruption. That’s the truth — we didn’t do enough to really unsettle them,” he said.
