Reports say Kylian Mbappe to start on the bench in Euro 2024 match against Netherlands

French football star Kylian Mbappé will not start for his country’s match against the Netherlands on Friday night, according to French sports newspaper L’Équipe. Hours before the 9 p.m. kickoff time, the newspaper said manager Didier Deschamps decided to keep Mbappé on the bench at the start as the forward is still recovering from a broken nose.

Instead, the team captain will be replaced by Marcus Thuram as a striker, Adrien Rabiot on the left side, and Ousmane Dembélé on the right. “We have to use common sense,” Deschamps said during a press conference on Thursday when he was asked about Mbappé. “We will see tomorrow.”

Both sides can officially seal their place in the last 16 with a victory. For France, benching Mbappé against the Netherlands means he may be in a better position to compete against Poland in his team’s last group match.

The star forward has been taking part in light training with his team after breaking his nose in the team’s 1-0 win over Austria. Mbappé took part in the training session on Thursday wearing a protective mask that arrived a short while earlier.

The forward seemed to be struggling with the comfort of the mask in the first 15 minutes of the training session that was open to the media. “Things are moving in the right direction after this major shock. Yesterday, he was able to go out to train. That will be the case this evening to ensure that he can be available tomorrow,” Deschamps said on Thursday.

Real Madrid midfielder Aurélien Tchouaméni will get his first national team start for France on Friday in nearly three months. He played all 90 minutes when France beat Chile 3-2 in a friendly. He also played in France’s 0-2 defeat to Germany in another friendly in March.

Deschamps confirmed earlier this week that Mbappé will require surgery due to the injury. However, that can be delayed until after the tournament.

Oranje manager Ronald Koeman is set to make two changes to the line-up that beat Poland 2-1 in their opening game, according to reports. Joey Veerman and Xavi Simons will drop to the bench, with Georginio Wijnaldum and Jeremie Frimpong set to take their place.

The formation of 4-3-3 will not change, with Wijnaldum taking Veerman’s place at center midfield and Frimpong moving to the right-wing position.