Qualified for the 2026 World Cup after their 4-0 victory over Ukraine on Thursday evening at the Parc des Princes, the France team will travel to Baku to challenge Azerbaijan on Sunday (6 p.m.). A meeting in which Kylian Mbappé will not take part.
Author of a double against the Ukrainians, the Real Madrid striker felt discomfort in his right ankle. “ Kylian Mbappé still suffers from inflammation in his right ankle which requires examinations. He will perform them today in Madrid,” the FFF announced this Friday through a press release.
The boy from Bondy’s package for the last match of this international break does not fail to provoke a reaction. Some see this as a “diplomatic” injury. This is the case of Jérôme Rothen, for whom this preferential treatment does not pass within the Blues locker room.
“There are players who are fed up with this preferential treatment”
“ We asked ourselves the question, in the 80th minute, when it was 4-0, we wondered who was going to invent an injury so as not to go to Baku (…) He is captain of the France team, he gets preferential treatment, OK. But he has teammates on the side! Do you think that all the teammates who are going to Baku, and those who play as much or more than Mbappé over the year, are not tired and want to play this peanutty match? No », blurted the former Parisian on the airwaves of RMC.
“But on the other hand, they go because they have to, Rothen continued. And Kylian Mbappé gets this preferential treatment? When you’re qualified, everything goes, but when it’s more complicated… When you make decisions like that, it can create problems in the locker room, and I remain convinced that there are players who are fed up with this preferential treatment. »
