by Vincent Daheron
Kylian Mbappé, starter and scorer on Tuesday despite his broken nose earlier in the tournament, did not allow the French football team to win against Poland (1-1), in Dortmund (Germany) , during the third and final day of Group D of Euro 2024.
Wearing a black mask to protect his broken nose during the first match of the competition, against Austria (1-0 victory), the captain of the Blues returned to the field after missing the match against the Netherlands on Friday (0 -0) on the second day of the group stage.
Kylian Mbappé could have been the savior of the Blues, as he opened the scoring by converting a penalty caused by Ousmane Dembélé (56th), but Robert Lewandowski (79th) equalized with a penalty which he withdrew after a first attempt stopped by Mike Maignan (79th).
For the 25-year-old French striker, this is the first goal scored in a European Championship, for his sixth meeting in two participations after 2021, as well as his 13th goal in a major tournament, to equal Just Fontaine and get closer to Michel Platini (14), holder of this record in the French team.
Previously, the new Real Madrid player had become the first Habs since 1980 to have attempted as many shots at the Euro (22) without scoring.
Very often dropping from his role as a leading attacker, Kylian Mbappé was very active between the 40th and 50th minutes, straddling the two periods.
He came up against Polish goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski three times (42nd, 45th, 49th), named player of the match, before hitting narrowly wide (49th) and then equalizing.
At the end of the match, he complained about a blow to the nose from Robert Lewandowski but was able to finish the match.
The 2018 world champion proved that he represented the main offensive threat for the Blues, as he was involved in his team’s two goals in the first round: he provoked the Austrian Maximilian Wöber’s own goal then scored his goal on Tuesday. 48th goal in the blue jersey in 81 caps.
Second in its group behind Austria, France will play its round of 16 on Monday July 1 (6:00 p.m.) in Düsseldorf (Germany) against the second in Group E (Romania, Belgium, Slovakia or Ukraine).
(Written by Vincent Daheron in Paris, edited by Jean Terzian)
