PADERBORN, Germany: Kylian Mbappé returned to light training Wednesday with a bandage covering his broken nose in the first public appearance by the France superstar since his bloody injury that shook the European Championship.
A cryptic post on social media earlier hours might have provided an insight into Mbappé’s mindset as the world waits to discover how long he will be out of action.
“Without risks, there are no victories,” the striker wrote on Instagram in the only comment so far from Mbappé or the French team management on a day when the Real Madrid-bound player underwent more tests on the nose injury sustained in the 1-0 win over Austria on Monday.
Mbappé emerged for a late-afternoon practice session at the Home Deluxe Arena in Paderborn about 30 minutes after his teammates came out. He was initially seen running with the ball alone, with a trainer, and later speaking to France coach Didier Deschamps, before taking part in a shooting drill with other players.
France’s next match is against the Netherlands on Friday and the team have yet to officially confirm whether Mbappé is available.
Earlier Wednesday, the diagnosis on Mbappé 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 hold their training sessions at Euro 2024, “and Kylian should be with us pretty soon.”
William Saliba said he spoke to Mbappé and reported the striker was feeling a “bit better.”
Mbappé broke his nose when his face collided with the shoulder of Austria defender Kevin Danso. Blood was seen pouring from Mbappé’s badly swollen nose, turning parts of his white France jersey red. He will have to wear a face mask if he plays on at the tournament, his team said.
“I saw him this morning, he was a bit better,” Saliba said through a translator. “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 widespread expectation is that Mbappé will play a further part at Euro 2024, especially since France’s win over Austria means the team are likely to advance to the knockout stage, which begins on June 29.
France will not be playing their match in the round of 16 before June 30.
Rabiot stressed he didn’t know how long Mbappé will be out, but said “playing without Kylian could be tough.”
“He is a very important teammate and he is our captain, so it will have an effect on us, but also for the opponents — it will be different for them to prepare their game,” Rabiot said.
“I’m not going to hide it, we definitely want him to play. (But) looking at who we have on the bench, I think we have what it takes to replace Kylian. If he’s not there, it’s going to be a bit more tough but I trust all the great players we have on the team.”
Olivier Giroud and Randal Kolo Muani are the options to come in for Mbappé, who was nominally a center forward against Austria but was given license to roam to the left or right. It was from the right wing where he played in the cross for the only goal — a header into his own net by Maximilian Wober.