France faced familiar questions over Kylian Mbappe as they prepared for their Euro 2024 opener against Austria tonight.
Les Bleus boss Didier Deschamps had to decide between sending Real Madrid’s new star out as his central striker or whether to pair him with Olivier Giroud, an attacking set-up which the French have favoured to great success in recent tournaments.
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Giroud, 37, is no longer at the peak of his powers and loses out to Marcus Thuram in a supporting role for Mbappe, with Ousmane Dembele and Antoine Griezmann completing a formidable attack.
Mbappe sat out training on Thursday along with Kingsley Coman amid a flu virus hitting the France squad, although there was little fear he would miss Monday’s game.
The absence of Real Madrid midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni with a foot injury means that ex-Chelsea star N’Golo Kante, 33, lines up in midfield after his two-year international exile, next to Adrien Rabiot rather than Eduardo Camavinga.
France are also missing Lucas Hernandez due to an ACL injury, meaning his brother Theo Hernandez gets the nod at left-back, with Arsenal’s William Saliba beating Ibrahima Konate of Liverpool to start at centre-back alongside Dayot Upamecano.
Austria are without injured talisman David Alaba plus Xaver Schlager but have plenty of experience in the form of stand-in captain Marcel Sabitzer, Marko Arnautovic and Michael Gregoritsch.
Head coach Ralf Rangnick favours a 4-2-3-1 system with RB Leipzig’s Christoph Baumgartner a chief creative force.
Austria XI: Pentz, Posch, Danso, Wober, Mwene, Seiwald, Grillitsch, Laimer, Sabitzer, Baumgartner, GregoritschSubs: Lindner, Trauner, Arnautovic, Prass, Hedl, Querfeld, Lienhart, Kainz, Schmid, Daniliuc, Seidl, Wimmer, Weimann, Entrup, Grull
France XI: Maignan, Kounde, Saliba, Upamecano, Hernandez, Kante, Rabiot, Dembele, Griezmann, Thuram, MbappeSubs: Samba, Pavard, Mendy, Camavinga, Tchouameni, Giroud, Muani, Zaire Emery, Fofana, Coman, Clauss, Areola, Konate, Barcola
Time and date: 8pm BST on Monday June 17, 2024
Venue: Dusseldorf Arena
TV channel: ITV1
