Will he or won’t he? Kylian Mbappé’s availability for France remains the subject of much contention heading into the team’s Group D closer against Poland in the European Championship.
Mbappé sustained a broken nose in France’s opening 1-0 win over Austria and didn’t come off the bench for the 0-0 draw with the Netherlands on Friday, despite France coach Didier Deschamps having sounded optimistic his star forward could play while wearing a face mask.
Mbappé has since featured in a behind-closed-doors match against a local team so he might be ready to return, though a smiling Deschamps was again coy about the situation in his eve-of-match news conference on Monday.
France hasn’t lost any of its eight group games at the European Championships under Deschamps and will look to continue the run against the Poles.
“We analyse every game. Every opponent is different. It was only four days ago, so a lot of focus has been on recuperation. But the objective is to obtain the best position possible in this group,” Deschamps said.
France has scored only one goal so far, and that was an own goal by Austria defender Maximilian Wober. Les Bleus are the only team at the tournament not to have a goal from one of its own players.
Poland, on the other hand, has been already eliminated from the tournament. It has failed to advance from the group stage in four of its last five appearances at the European Championship.
“We will play against France with our best possible lineup. This game will be good for us as part of our preparations for the UEFA Nations League in the autumn,” Poland coach Michal Probierz said before the match.
Kick-off is at 6 p.m. local time (9:30 pm IST) in Dortmund.
(with inputs from AP)
WHAT ARE THE PLAYERS SAYING?
“The mood is calm, I think we’ve played two good games. Now the third one is upon us, so we’ll try and secure qualification and first place in the group. We’re well rested and focused on putting on a good display tomorrow.”
-N’Golo Kanté, France midfielder
“I hope we will play our best match of the tournament. Although we have only pride to play for, I hope we will play good football, create opportunities and score goals. We know we cannot fall apart even if things get tough. We need to have a plan and stick to it from start to finish regardless of the outcome.”
-Robert Lewandowski, Poland captain
PREDICTED LINEUPS AND FORMATION
France (4-4-2): Maignan; Kounde, Saliba, Upamecano, Hernandez; Dembele, Kante, Tchouameni, Rabiot; Griezmann, Thuram
Poland (3-5-2): Skorupski; Bednarek, Dawidowicz, Kiwior; Frankowski, Zielinski, Slisz, Piotrowski, Zalewski; Buksa, Lewandowski
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