Kylian Mbappe could miss the rest of Euro 2024, admits France chief
French football chief Philippe Diallo says it is “too soon to know” whether star man Kylian Mbappe will be able to play the rest of Euro 2024 with a broken nose.
The Real Madrid forward suffered the injury when he collided with Austria defender Kevin Danso during France’s 1-0 group stage win on Monday night.
It was decided not to operate on Mbappe after he was taken to hospital in Dusseldorf and he is expected to need a protective mask if he is to return to the team.
Losing the tournament’s biggest star would be a huge blow for France, who are joint favourites to win Euro 2024 with England, who they could meet in the semi-finals.
“The first responses were quite positive as there is no surgery planned for the moment,” said France Football Federation president Diallo.
“Now it is too soon to know if he will be able to play for the remainder of the tournament, or to provide a schedule for his situation.
“Obviously there were some medical examinations performed on site to know more about Kylian Mbappe’s nose and they made some conclusions pretty quickly.
“They tried to reduce the aftermath of his fracture, for him to be able to remain in the tournament.
“As I said, there is no surgery planned for the moment and we are still waiting for things to evolve later in order to know more about the conditions of his participation in the remainder of the tournament.”
France face the Netherlands on Friday in a match likely to decide who tops Group D, followed by a game against Poland on Tuesday.
Mbappe appeared to hint that he hoped to stay at the tournament on Monday when he posted on social media asking for ideas for face masks.