Euro 2024: France's Kylian Mbappé on bench vs. Netherlands

ByESPN
June 21, 2024, 2:09 PM

Kylian Mbappé has been named as a substitute for France's Euro 2024 clash with the Netherlands days after breaking his nose in the team's first game of the tournament.

Mbappé, 25, collided with Austria's Kevin Danso in the second half of Monday's 1-0 win for France. France's federation confirmed Mbappé wouldn't need surgery, though he is set to wear a mask for the remainder of the tournament, and whether he would participate against the Netherlands in any capacity was in question.

Aurélien Tchouaméni comes into the midfield as the only change for Didier Deschamps' France side in a rejigged lineup. Antoine Griezmann moves forward into an attacking trio alongside Ousmane Dembélé, Marcus Thuram.

Mbappé trained wearing a mask adorning the colours of the French flag on Thursday, and Didier Deschamps said: "Everything is going well, after the shock we had."

"Not everything depends on whether Mbappé is there or not. We know that he can be a game changer. He had a big influence on the last two games, two qualification games, but it doesn't depend on us."

France and the Netherlands are level on three points in Group D. The Dutch came from behind to beat Poland 2-1, and France needed an own goal to beat Austria.

France have won seven of the teams' past eight meetings, including home and away victories in qualifying.

Mbappé is yet to score in European Championship football in five attempts.