(Paderborn) Kylian Mbappé’s broken nose has darkened the horizons of the France team, which is crossing its fingers to find its number 1 asset as quickly as possible and is already wondering how to live without him for the immediate aftermath of the Euro 2024.  

The success, even narrow, against Austria (1-0), Monday in Düsseldorf, could have been considered a good starting point for the Blues in the continental tournament, but relief quickly gave way to anguish with the exit at the end of the match of the captain, his nose bloody after a collision with Kevin Danso.  

Didier Deschamps made no mistake. While his player was undergoing examinations in hospital, the coach looked ahead to the future with a sentence full of meaning.  

“I have always said it, with Kylian, the France team is stronger. If the news is not good, we will fight without him. Kylian is Kylian, in any team he is in, the team is stronger,” he said.  

For the moment, the staff of the vice-world champions has not provided a length of unavailability concerning N.10, but the fear of a forfeit for the rest of the competition was quickly swept away by the president of the French Football Federation Philippe Diallo.  

“No operation, it will be fine,” the leader told journalists as he left the Düsseldorf compound.

The FFF then issued a press release overnight from Monday to Tuesday to confirm the attacker’s broken nose, indicating that he should wear protection.

“A mask will be made in such a way as to allow […] to consider a resumption of competition after a period dedicated to treatment,” explained the management.

The superstar herself used humor on social media, asking her 14 million followers on X: “Any ideas for masks? » A sign that morale is not affected and that he intends to return to the Euro pitches as quickly as possible.

A race against time is nevertheless underway to recover Mbappé and Deschamps will have to rack his brains to review as quickly as possible his offensive animation, the black point of the match against Austria. Even if the staff did not specify anything on this subject, it seems very complicated to see the 3rd top scorer in the history of the Blues (47 goals in 80 caps) on Friday in Leipzig against the Netherlands, for the shock of the group D.

Without an exceptional player like Mbappé, France is particularly deprived in attack and it is not the performance of the offensive players lined up on Monday that will reassure the coach. The only French goal, scored by Maximilian Wöber against his camp, also came from an inspiration from the future Madrilenian.  

Ousmane Dembélé and Marcus Thuram were of very worrying technical indigence and Olivier Giroud, who replaced the No.10, missed a huge opportunity. At almost 38 years old (September 30), can someone who will retire internationally at the end of the European Championship be a credible recourse, even in the short term?

“I’m not thinking about myself at the moment,” reacted the center forward, who signed with Los Angeles FC. I think of him (Kylian Mbappé, Editor’s note), of the team. Either way, we don’t know who will start for the next match. We just hope he recovers as quickly as possible.”  

As at the 2002 World Cup with Zinédine Zidane’s thigh, the French team remains hanging on the condition of its leader’s nose.