Kylian Mbappe missed France's training session on Tuesday as the world champions prepare to face England in the quarter finals. The 23-year-old scored two in the 3-0 last-16 victory over Poland on Sunday and already has five goals in the tournament.
Didier Deschamps' side have already been heavily impacted by injuries in the attacking area and are missing 2022 Ballon d'Or winner Karim Benzema as well as Christopher Nkunku. The Paris Saint-Germain star doesn't appear to be in the same boat as those two though.
The briefing in Qatar suggests that Mbappe isn't injured, despite the rest of his teammates training, and that he was inside undergoing a recovery session.
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England will be looking to stop the PSG forward and may well revert to a back three in order to match Kyle Walker's pace with the lightening quick attacker and it doesn't look like Southgate's plans will be changing either, as journalist Julien Laurens gave the latest update on his fitness following the training absence, tweeting, "Kylian Mbappé is not training with the France squad. He is indoors for a recovery session which was always the plan. He is not injured or tired or struggling!"
Walker himself has recently come back from an injury, having not played in two months leading up to the tournament, and has looked off the pace in the games that he has played.
Mbappe is yet to lose a World Cup match as a starting player having won the tournament as a 19-year-old at the 2018 tournament in Russia . He failed to score in his only previous appearance against the Three Lions, in a 3-2 friendly win in 2017. He has 16 goals in his last 14 international matches.
England haven't played France in a World Cup match since 1982.
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