DORTMUND, Germany (AP) — Kylian Mbappé marked his return to the European Championship after a broken nose injury, sporting a protective mask, and scored for France against Poland. However, his penalty goal wasn’t sufficient to secure a victory, as France settled for a 1-1 draw with Poland in their Euro 2024 Group D match on Tuesday.
Mbappé, celebrating in front of enthusiastic French fans, removed his black mask after converting a penalty in the 56th minute. Yet, Poland’s veteran striker Robert Lewandowski responded with a penalty of his own in the 79th minute, after a dramatic retake. This draw resulted in France finishing as runner-up in Group D to Austria. Consequently, Les Bleus find themselves in a challenging path in the knockout stage, potentially facing European powerhouses like Portugal with Cristiano Ronaldo, host nation Germany, and Spain.
Earlier in the day, Austria defeated the Netherlands 3-2 in another Group D match played simultaneously, solidifying their top spot in the group.
This match result further highlighted a concerning trend for France at Euro 2024: their struggle to score from open play. Prior to Mbappé’s penalty, their only goal in the tournament was an own goal in their 1-0 victory against Austria. They also played to a scoreless draw against the Netherlands in a match where Mbappé was absent due to his nose injury sustained against Austria.
Despite advancing to the knockout stage, France’s performances have been far from convincing.
“I would be much more concerned if we weren’t creating chances, but clearly there is room for improvement,” French coach Didier Deschamps acknowledged. “Perhaps other teams have shown something different, but our lack of scoring is impacting our overall performance. Nevertheless, we have achieved our initial objective of qualifying.”
Mbappé, back in the starting lineup against already-eliminated Poland, visibly adjusted to playing with a black mask, which seemed to restrict his peripheral vision.
He avoided physical duels and aerial challenges, often positioning himself at the edge of the box, waiting for opportunities to come to him.
Deschamps admitted it was “complicated” for Mbappé to play with the mask.
“I thought he adapted well with the mask, but he needs time to fully adjust,” Deschamps commented. “Sweat accumulating under the mask became an issue, obstructing his vision at times, requiring him to wipe his eyes.”
Despite these challenges, Mbappé remained France’s most threatening attacker. He finally broke his goal drought in major international tournaments, scoring his first goal in six matches – a run spanning four games at Euro 2020 and two at Euro 2024. The penalty came after Ousmane Dembele was fouled in the penalty area. This goal marked Mbappé’s 48th for the French national team.
Mbappé completed the entire match, starting centrally before moving to the left wing, in what was another underwhelming team performance from France, a team boasting two European Championship titles and being the 2022 World Cup runner-up.
France now faces the runner-up from Group E in the round of 16 on July 1, with potential opponents being Belgium, Romania, Slovakia, or Ukraine. A tougher path awaits them in the later stages of the tournament.
Poland, on the other hand, concludes their Euro 2024 journey.
Robert Lewandowski, in what is likely his final European Championship appearance at 36 years old, managed to score a goal. He needed two attempts from the penalty spot to finally beat French goalkeeper Mike Maignan, due to Maignan being penalized for coming off his line on the initial save.
Lewandowski took the retake with the same stutter-step run-up and this time placed the ball into the bottom corner, despite Maignan diving correctly. This was Lewandowski’s 83rd international goal.
Interestingly, a similar situation occurred at the World Cup against France, where Hugo Lloris was the goalkeeper. Lewandowski again scored on a penalty retake after Lloris was also judged to have encroached.
AP Euro 2024: https://apnews.com/hub/euro-2024
