Kylian Mbappé ended up bleeding from the nose after suffering a severe blow to the face and had to be substituted in the final stretch of the 1-0 victory that France won on Monday against Austria in its debut in the European Championship.
The French star clashed heads with Austrian Kevin Danso in Duesseldorf, and ended up lying on the grass near the end of the Group D match. His signs of pain were evident, and Austrian goalkeeper Patrick Pentz rushed to seek medical attention.
With his shirt bloodied, Mbappé received first aid for the incident. The striker wanted to continue playing but he collapsed again and put his hand to his face, causing the Austrian fans to snort and believe that he was trying to waste time.
Mbappé was cautioned by referee Jesús Gil Manzano before being replaced by Olivier Giroud.
It was a night of contrasts for Mbappé.
A moment of inspiration from him led to the winning goal. With the ball tied at his feet, Mbappé overflowed on the right, snubbed Phillipp Mwene and hung a cross that Maximilian Wober headed into his own net.
In a frictionless and even duel, Maximilian Wober’s own goal before the break gave France the victory. The action was provoked by Mbappé, who overflowed from the right and hung a cross that the defender deflected with a header into his own net.
But Mbappé let a goal slip away in the 55th minute by shooting wide when he was one-on-one with the goalkeeper.
Rushing towards the goal, Mbappé left Wober behind and had time to get into the area to measure the shot. With the French fans behind the goal waiting for the net to inflate, Mbappé’s shot bit the post to the relief of the Austrians.
Didier Deschamps earned his 100th victory as coach of the French team.
