European Football Championship: France is looking for Mbappé’s replacement

The impending loss of captain Kylian Mbappé raises one question in the country of the European Championship title favorite France: Who can replace the superstar in the center of the attack? The sports paper “L’Équipe” brought three names into play, two of them with a past in the Bundesliga. “Giroud, Thuram, Kolo Muani: three options to compensate for the loss of Kylian Mbappé,” wrote the newspaper.

But it won’t be that easy if Mbappé is unable to play due to the broken nose he suffered in the Équipe Tricolore’s opening match against Austria on Monday. He doesn’t need to undergo surgery immediately. The French have not yet revealed whether the 25-year-old will be able to play on Friday (9 p.m.) in Leipzig against the Dutch. If so, he will wear a face mask.

Giroud doesn’t think about himself

There is a lot to be said for Olivier Giroud. “If everything goes well,” wrote “L’Équipe”. The 37-year-old is a real number nine, and with 57 goals he is also France’s record goalscorer. When Mbappé had to leave the pitch against the Austrians shortly before the end, Giroud came on for him. “I’m not thinking about myself at the moment. I’m thinking about Kylian,” he said after the opening match. He is also said to be having problems with his adductors.

Two other options would be Marcus Thuram, once at Borussia Mönchengladbach, or Kolo Muani, once at Eintracht Frankfurt. Thuram was already in the starting lineup against Austria, but flanked Mbappé on the left. At Inter Milan, however, he usually plays centrally in attack. If France coach Didier Deschamps decides to put Thuram on the left and Ousmane Dembélé on the right in attack, Muani would be an option for the middle, as he sometimes does at his current club Paris Saint-Germain.