No, it was not a satisfactory European Championship evening for fellow favourites France. Les Bleus only played 1:1 against Poland in the last group match and thus missed out on winning the group – which the Austrians snatched.
Although superstar Kylian Mbappé was able to play again with a face mask after breaking his nose – the 25-year-old had missed the match against the Netherlands – the future Real Madrid player was also unable to score France’s victory. This caused a lot of frustration and an outburst.
Mbappé had put the favorites ahead with a penalty in the 56th minute. But Poland’s star Robert Lewandowski also equalized from the penalty spot (79th minute). And these two clashed towards the end of the game, when France was pushing for victory.
In the 88th minute, Lewandowski defended himself in a duel with Mbappé, not wanting to give the ball away under any circumstances. The 35-year-old also used his hands to shield the ball. With these he hit Mbappé in the face, exactly where he is currently most sensitive. The carbon mask doesn’t help much here either.
Mbappé immediately became angry – and insulted Lewandowski massively. He called him a “fils de pute”, i.e. a son of a b****. The Frenchman did not say this to his counterpart’s face. It can be assumed that the Pole did not hear the insult. After the game, the two superstars hugged each other and there seemed to be no bad feelings between them.
These two will face each other more often in the new season. Mbappé will be joining the current Champions League winners Real from the summer. Lewandowski is under contract with arch-rivals FC Barcelona until 2026 in the autumn. So we can look forward to more duels between the two. The insults can be left out.
Come to the 20-minute public viewing at the Fifa Museum
24 national teams will fight for the European Championship title from June 14 to July 14. Will the Swiss national team write a summer fairytale? You can be there up close at the FIFA Museum Public Viewing, presented by 20 minutes. You can find all the information about the public viewing and the special events with experts such as Pascal Zuberbühler, Raphael Wicky or 20 minutes sports editor Tobias Wedermann here.
