Kylian Mbappé limped off with an apparent knee injury moments after scoring France’s winner in a 1-0 Nations League victory over 10-man Turkey on Friday, the opening match of Zinedine Zidane’s reign as France head coach.
The Real Madrid striker rifled in a low shot in the 55th minute after he was set up by Michael Olise, extending his record France goals tally to 67. Soon after that strike, however, he sat on the ground and grimaced as he rubbed the area around his left knee.
Zidane replaced Mbappé with Désiré Doué. The forward was able to walk off the field of his own accord, an encouraging sight, but the France coach said afterwards that he expects his captain to return to Real Madrid for treatment. “It’s not great. Unfortunately I think he is going to have to go home. We don’t want to take any risks,” Zidane told the French broadcaster TF1. “He overextended his knee while shooting. It’s not very encouraging.”
France had already gone close before the goal, Jules Koundé hitting the post, and Turkey were reduced to 10 men when their goalkeeper Ugurcan Cakir was sent off for handling the ball outside his area after Bradley Barcola had been played through on goal.
Elsewhere in Group A2, Roberto Mancini’s second debut as Italy head coach ended with a barrage of boos as the Azzurri were beaten 2-0 at home by Belgium. Mika Godts marked his first competitive cap with a fine individual goal after 20 minutes at the Stadio Olimpico, and Dodi Lukebakio’s powerful strike in the 69th minute put the visitors out of sight in a chastening first game for Mancini. It was an encouraging start for the new Belgium coach Mark van Bommel, who succeeded Rudi Garcia following the Red Devils’ run to the World Cup quarter-finals. Belgium host France in their next match on Monday, while Italy travel to Turkey.
Northern Ireland began their Nations League campaign with a dramatic 1-0 win over Georgia in Tbilisi, where Shea Charles scored a last-gasp winner after his brother Pierce saved Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s penalty. Pierce Charles guessed right to keep out a poor penalty from Kvaratskhelia in the 65th minute, having already made an excellent save to deny Georges Mikautadze’s close-range shot earlier in the second half of the Group B2 game. At the other end, Shea Charles had spurned the visitors’ best chances to score, but in the ninth minute of time added on he scrambled home from Trai Hume’s cross, securing a first ever away win for Northern Ireland in the Nations League. There was a nervous VAR check for offside before Shea Charles could celebrate just his second international goal. Although Northern Ireland left the pitch celebrating, there was a major blow in stoppage time as defender Dan Ballard pulled up clutching his hamstring.
Michael O’Neill had been frustrated with several decisions from the referee, Orel Grinfeeld, not least the penalty, which came after Ballard and Luka Locoshvili tussled in the box and Grinfeeld was sent to the VAR monitor. Northern Ireland’s next opponents, Hungary, lost 1-0 to Ukraine in Budapest thanks to Danylo Sikan’s goal.
In Group B4, Sweden secured a 2-1 home win over Romania with Alexander Isak and Viktor Gyökeres both on target for Graham Potter’s side. In the group’s other game, Poland were held to a goalless draw by Bosnia and Herzegovina in Warsaw.
In the third-tier Group C2, Milutin Osmajić’s 86th-minute goal helped Montenegro fight back to beat Cyprus in Podgorica. The visitors led through Marcus Edwards’ goal on his international debut, but Nikola Krstovic levelled before Osmajić’s late winner. Armenia top the group after beating Latvia 2-0 at home earlier on Friday.