Kylian Mbappé Scores for France Before Leaving Zidane’s Debut With Knee Injury

Kylian Mbappé’s first appearance under new France manager Zinedine Zidane ended with an injury scare after the Real Madrid forward scored the only goal in France’s Nations League meeting with Turkey on Friday.

Mbappé opened the scoring in the 55th minute, finishing a move created by Michael Olise. The goal was significant for the France captain, taking his international tally to 67 goals. 

However, the celebrations were quickly replaced by concern.

Mbappé forced off shortly after scoring

Only moments after finding the net, Mbappé went down and appeared to be experiencing discomfort around his left knee.

The forward remained on the pitch briefly, but France’s medical staff were called over before Zidane decided to make a change. Mbappé was replaced by Désiré Doué in the 58th minute.

An encouraging sign was that the France captain was able to leave the field on his own rather than requiring assistance. At this stage, reports describe the problem as an apparent or suspected knee injury, with no confirmed diagnosis or recovery timeline publicly established. 

A memorable but worrying night for Zidane

The incident came during Zidane’s first competitive match as France manager.

Mbappé had been dealing with a separate illness earlier in the international break. He missed a training session because of flu-like symptoms before returning to full training ahead of the Turkey fixture. Zidane had also confirmed before the match that Mbappé was fit and expected to play. 

That made the injury scare particularly unexpected.

Zidane has retained Mbappé as France captain and previously indicated that he sees the Real Madrid star as an important part of his plans for the national team. 

France secure victory in Zidane’s first game

Despite losing their captain before the final stages, France held on to their 1-0 victory over Turkey, giving Zidane a winning start to his tenure.

The result was overshadowed, however, by the condition of Mbappé. France and Real Madrid will now wait for further medical assessments to determine the seriousness of the knee problem.

For now, the key detail is that Mbappé was able to walk off the pitch after being substituted, but the extent of the injury remains unclear.