On the bench at the start of the match against Greece, Kylian Mbappé appears decidedly essential to the Blues.
Didier Deschamps wanted to spare the organisms. If Antoine Griezmann, Adrien Rabiot continued in midfield, as well as Théo Hernandez in the left lane, the French coach changed the rest of his eleven to face Greece, just three days after his impressive victory against Gibraltar. “I do my best to protect the players. There we will return at 5 a.m. And next week there is the Champions League. We have to make sure not to take risks because there are already injuries.”justified the French coach.
Starting against Gibraltar, with a hat-trick, Kylian Mbappé started on the bench against Greece. And once again, his absence was felt. In the game and on the result. And this was already the case during the friendly match played in Germany last September when the Parisian striker was hampered by pain in his patella tendon. And without its best player, the Blues lost 2-1 against a Mannschaft which had been in great difficulty for several months.
In 2023, the France team will have played ten matches, with eight victories, one draw and one defeat. She will have played eight with Kylian Mbappé present at the kick-off, for as many successes, and two others without her titular captain, with a draw when he came on during the match and a defeat when he remained on the bench. And this statistic also applies to the World Cup in Qatar since when Kylian Mbappé was preserved against Tunisia in the last match of the group – like most of the starters, the Blues lost 1-0.
