Kylian Mbappe dropped from France squad

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Kylian Mbappe has been dropped from France’s squad by head coach Didier Deschamps, who said the Real Madrid star was not selected for upcoming Nations League games despite making himself available.

The forward, who played for Madrid in the Champions League defeat to AC Milan on Tuesday, missed last month’s double-header against Israel and Belgium due to injury but appeared to be fit to return to the national team.

But the 25-year-old was not named in Deschamps’ squad for the upcoming games against Israel and away to Italy, in what the World Cup-winning head coach said was a “one-off decision”.

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“I’ve had discussions with him, it is a decision that I took for this block of matches only,” Deschamps said at a press conference. “Kylian wanted to come.”

Mbappe was criticised in France for appearing to skip October’s Nations League matches against Israel and Belgium after making himself available to play for Madrid before the international break.

According to reports in Sweden, Mbappe was then seen in a nightclub in Stockholm on the same night as France’s 4-1 win over Israel, resulting in further criticism of the Les Bleus skipper.

Mbappe joined European champions Madrid from Paris Saint-Germain on a lucrative free transfer in the summer, and he has since scored eight goals for the Spanish giants.

But Madrid have lost two games in a row and Mbappe has struggled for form, with a heavy defeat to Barcelona in El Classico followed by another loss at home to Milan.

Mbappe was named France’s captain following the shock retirement of Antoine Griezmann, but he has started just one game – September’s home defeat to Italy – since the Euro 2024 semi-final defeat to Spain.

Bradley Barcola, Ousmane Dembele, Randal Kolo Muani, Christopher Nkunku, Michael Olise and Marcus Thuram were the forwards named by Deschamps in a 23-player squad.