June 22nd 2024.
Kylian Mbappé, one of France's star forwards, was not included in the starting lineup for their match against the Netherlands at the European Championship. Instead, he was an unused substitute. This was due to his recent injury, where he broke his nose during their first game against Austria on Monday. While he had trained with a face mask the day before, coach Didier Deschamps decided it was too risky to play him against the strong and physical Dutch defenders.
Mbappé appeared calm and relaxed as he arrived at the stadium with his team. He was not wearing a bandage on his nose, as he had during light training the day before, but he did have on sunglasses. Before the game, he put on a plain black face mask and joined his teammates for warmups. At first, he sat on a football while the rest of the team stretched out, but eventually joined in on kicking a ball around with the substitutes. However, due to UEFA equipment regulations, he was not able to wear the personalized red, white, and blue mask he had worn during training the day before. The rules state that any medical equipment worn on the field must be a single color and free of team and manufacturer identification.
Despite not being able to wear his personalized mask, Mbappé's presence was still felt on the field. His initials, the French Football Federation rooster, and his number 10 flanked by two stars were all featured on the mask he had worn the day before. Both France and the Netherlands currently have four points in Group D, while Austria has three after defeating Poland 3-1 in their match earlier that day. Unfortunately, Poland has no points after two games and will not be able to progress, even if they win their final game against France, due to their head-to-head record against Austria.
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