Captain Kylian Mbappe is only fit enough to be a substitute for France in Friday's important UEFA Euro 2024 Group D clash with Netherlands in Leipzig. Les Bleus' talisman suffered a broken nose in the 1-0 opening win over Austria which keeps him out of Didier Deschamps' starting XI vs. Oranje. Mbappe could be a debilitating loss for the French attack with Antoine Griezmann, Adrien Rabiot and Marcus Thuram all repositioned because of the 25-year-old's absence.
This clash with the Netherlands is not as crucial as it would have been had the Austrians found an equalizer on Monday. However, it is still a huge chance to book a round of 16 place with a game to spare and one which Deschamps wants to take. Mbappe trained ahead of the game with wrapping on his nose and spent some parts of the training sessions apart from his teammates so France's medical staff could continue to assess his recovery from treatment before coming to this decision.
France XI
Deschamps has opted to keep many elements of his starting XI the same with only one personnel change being Aurelien Tchouameni coming in for future Real Madrid teammate Mbappe. However, a number of those players will be playing slightly different roles to the ones that they occupied vs. Austria. The defense is absolutely unchanged as Les Bleus go in search of another clean sheet, but Griezmann takes the armband and will be positioned more centrally with Tchouameni coming in but N'Golo Kante keeping exactly the same position that saw him excel in Dusseldorf on Monday. Up top is where it gets interesting with Ousmane Dembele staying out wide on the right, but Marcus Thuram coming in central and Adrien Rabiot being asked to put in a shift on the left. Obviously, that means no Olivier Giroud who came on for Mbappe against Austria but seems to now be a substitute option for Deschamps instead of a starter.
French starting XI: Maignan; Kounde, Upamecano, Saliba, Hernandez; Griezmann (c), Tchouameni, Kante; Dembele, Thuram, Rabiot.
Marcus Thuram
One slight alteration that Deschamps has made in his XI is placing Thuram as the central attacking figure and bringing in Rabiot else wide on the left instead. The Inter man is not a natural lone frontman and works better as part of a unit but could thrive more centrally if Griezmann's creativity levels remain the same and Dembele's rise with greater responsibility. The big question is whether or not Thuram is clinical enough for this sort of responsibility in a significant fixture like this one against Netherlands.
Adrien Rabiot
The most intriguing semi-innovative approach that Deschamps is taking is the modern twist on a tried and tested classic. Back in the days of Blaise Matuidi, the midfielder was occasionally asked to put in a shift wide on the left as a makeshift left winger capable of getting up and down the flank given his enormous work rate and stamina. Matuidi might be gone, but Rabiot has now been asked to do the same in a one-off scenario with Griezmann dropping into a more central role and taking on the captain's armband with Thuram moving into a central position and another midfielder in Tchouameni coming in alongside Kante.
