Manager Didier Deschamps confirmed on Thursday that Kylian Mbappé will miss France’s UEFA Nations League games against Israel and Italy. As a result, this marks the fourth consecutive match without the French captain.
Despite contributing eight goals and two assists in 15 appearances, he’s still adapting to the team’s style of play. Mbappé’s start at Real Madrid has been a bit rocky after he failed to make an impact in the Spanish giant’s last two matches.
Mbappé’s El Clásico debut was particularly challenging, as Real Madrid endured a 4-0 loss to Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabéu on October 26. The tough stretch continued Tuesday night with a 3-1 defeat to AC Milan in the UEFA Champions League.
These back-to-back home losses left Real Madrid with a combined score of 7-1 over the two games.
Why was Kylian Mbappé omitted from the French squad?
On the El Partidazo de COPE program, pundit Nacho Peña believes that the former PSG standout isn’t with Les Bleus because of a vendetta that Deschamps has.
“I don’t buy the sports-related explanation. We’re still talking about Kylian Mbappé,” Peña said. “He might be doing poorly, but he’s still Kylian Mbappé. So, it can’t be for sports-related reasons. To me, this smells like a vendetta, honestly.
“It seems like Deschamps has had time to reconsider or perhaps doesn’t fully believe the reasons Mbappé gave for not attending the last call-up and is now taking his revenge. It wouldn’t be the first time. He did it with Karim Benzema and didn’t hesitate. That’s what it feels like to me. It’s just a sense, an intuition, but that’s how it feels.”
