“It will be up to me to adapt to Mbappé,” he commented. Antoine Griezmann in the press room before the last friendly against Canada, which has resulted in a 0-0 draw that sows some doubts regarding the moment of Blues seven days before his debut in the Euro against Austria in Dusseldorf.
France’s success will probably depend on the Kylian-Antoine partnership works. Without Mbappé, with discomfort in one knee after the strong blow suffered in the friendly against Luxembourg, Deschamps moved the red and white player away from the position of playmaker, in a 4-4-2, to put him as a second striker alongside Giroudwho was playing his last game with the national team in France (Metz) before the Euro starts. And the experiment didn’t work. Griezmann played a key role in Doha by playing further back to lead Les Bleus to the final against Argentina and It is likely that with the return of Mbappé he will have to return to that role.
Mbappé’s first words as a Real Madrid player: “I am very happy, relieved and proud”
What seems clear is that without Kylian France will not be able to lift the Euro in Germany. He was not scheduled to play against Canada, but he came out in the second half and almost at the end gave his team the victory. And he did not show any problem in view of his changes of pace, but this has not started yet and they are not going to take any risks.
Kylian recovery plan
The issue now is for Mbappé to arrive in the best possible condition for his debut against Austria. The coaching staff is no stranger to the tense season that their star has gone through and which he himself revealed in that explosive press conference prior to the first friendly and in which he felt comfortable with PSG, especially with its president, Nasser al-Khelaifi, although he didn’t need to name him.
Deschamps assures that there is no concern with Mbappé after playing 15 minutes against Canada
Therefore, they have taken care of him and have always shown caution. As soon as she landed in Clairefontaine, she was absent from two training sessions due to back problems. He arrived to play the first friendly and score the third goal and play the 90 minutes, but he was left aside again and the idea was that he would not play. There is no doubt that Kylian will be at the premiere but the plan now is for him to arrive in the best possible conditions and recover his sensations after a turbulent year and, above all, the back discomfort that began a few days after his arrival in Clairefontaine Don’t give him any more problems.
Mbappé, when passing through the mixed zone after the game, limited himself to commenting that everything is going well. Deschamps gave more details in the press room: “He had a small problem with a bruise after a blow, and yesterday (Saturday) he couldn’t train because he was very swollen. Today (Sunday), when he was receiving treatment, he felt better and wanted to play for 15 minutes. And, obviously, when Kylian is on the pitch, that changes a lot of things.”
Respect for Austria
There is some concern in France due to the doubts of the national team, although it is customary with Deschamps, except in the failure of the last Euro, for the team to go from less to more, as happened in Russia and in Qatar. Getting off to a good start means defeating an Austrian team that arrives very confident. They beat Serbia (2-1) and tied with Switzerland in the two warm-up friendlies, but he has only lost one game in the last sixteen away from his country and it was against Belgium (2-3) last October in their fight for first place in the group for this Euro.
