The affair Mbappé divides France and makes our people argue cousins from beyond the Alps. As we have known for days, the striker will miss the next Nations League matches against Israel and Belgium: a few weeks ago he suffered a muscle injury but returned to the pitch last Wednesday in the Champions League and on Saturday he started against Villarreal.
This is an affront for many fans and professionals: “If you are injured you don’t play with your team and you don’t get called up to the national team,” said former international Maxime Bossis to the sports newspaper L’Equipe. “But if you come off the bench in the Champions League and start a league match, things get confusing. He’s a special player, like Michel Platini: we always wanted him on the pitch, even when he was injured.”
Mbappé’s situation is more complicated because the former Paris Saint-Germain player became captain of the national team, receiving this honor that many argue should have belonged to Antoine Griezmann. The Atletico Madrid player announced his farewell last week Les Bleus. In the meantime, those who were expecting explanations from coach Didier Deschamps will be disappointed: today there will not be the usual press conference, a rarity justified by the need to train because the match against Israel is “too close”. There certainly would have been no shortage of questions about the Mbappé case… See you on Wednesday, in the classic press conference on the eve of the match.