Ronald Koeman emphasised that his side “can’t dwell” on whether Kylian Mbappe will play for France against the Netherlands, highlighting the importance of focusing on their own preparation.
Mbappe fractured his nose in an aerial collision with Austria defender Kevin Danso and was substituted in the closing stages of the 1-0 victory.
France head coach Didier Deschamps confirmed on Thursday that they will “make sure” Mbappe is available for the Netherlands game and that he will wear a mask, which the 25-year-old wore in a training session following the news conference.
Despite the pre-match focus being on the soon-to-be Real Madrid forward, Koeman insisted that France would have a formidable replacement even if Mbappe didn’t feature, drawing attention to their squad’s strength in depth.
Mbappe wearing a mask (Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images)
He said: “I don’t know (if he will play), Deschamps will know if he’ll be playing or not. We will have to wait and see. France are such a strong team that even if Mbappe is not playing, the substitute will be a good player as well.
“We can’t focus on this, all we can do is focus on our team and prepare ourselves as well as we can. Not everything depends on whether Mbappe is there or not. We know that he can be a gamechanger, he had a big influence on the last two games, but we can’t dwell on that.”
France confirmed Mbappe’s fractured nose diagnosis after X-rays at a local hospital following the Austria game on Monday night. They announced that he will wear a mask to “enable him to return to competition after a period of treatment” and added that, for now, there are no plans for surgery.
The Netherlands, meanwhile, are looking to pick up their second victory at the European Championship after defeating Poland 2-1 last Sunday.
Both the Netherlands and France gained three points from their opening games in Germany and currently sit first and second in Group D.
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(Maurice van Steen/ANP via Getty Images)