Kylian Mbappé is off to make a resounding return to the French team next March, for the quarter-final of the Nations League against Croatia, with a first leg in Split on Thursday March 20 and a return leg at the Stade de France on Sunday 23. Captain of the Blues during the last disappointing Euro 2024 in Germany (despite reaching the semi-finals), the French football star asked to take an international break in order to better settle in in Madrid. However, his controversial escapade in Sweden pushed Didier Deschamps to sideline him for the November gathering.
The French team therefore won first place in its Nations League group without Mbappé, thanks to a final victory at San Siro against Italy (1-3), but the French coach is expected for the call back in three months in order to beat Croatia and play in the Final Four of the Nations League in June. The prodigy from Bondy will even regain his status as captain, according to the president of the FFF Philippe Diallo, questioned on this subject by the JDD after his re-election at the head of the federation.
Diallo votes for Mbappé
“I first want to salute everything he has brought to the France team. Some doubted his commitment but I was delighted that he publicly reiterated (to Canal+) all the love he had for the French team and the attachment to this role of captain, which is a great honor. Until the Euro, he accomplished it with great seriousness. Then he went through a period of not so good. I hope he returns in March against Croatia, and if possible with the armband. But this should not become a problem: it is only an honor. This is the subject that must be discussed between Didier Deschamps and Kylian Mbappé so that he only takes the good side, that of the leader of the national team”explained Diallo.
Sanctioned by “DD”, Kylian Mbappé could very well have been sidelined until the outcome of the anecdotal League of Nations and resume for the very important qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, but this will not be the case. If France qualifies for the Final Four of the Nations League, it will fall into Group D of World Cup qualifying with Ukraine, Iceland and Azerbaijan. In the event of elimination against the Croatians, the Blues will play from June in the pool of Czechia, Montenegro, Faroe Islands and Gibraltar.
