LEIPZIG, Germany –
Kylian Mbappe was left out of France’s starting lineup for its 0-0 draw with the Netherlands at the European Championship on Friday. He was an unused substitute.
Mbappe hadn’t been certain to play after breaking his nose on Monday in the opening 1-0 win over Austria.
Mbappe trained wearing a face mask on Thursday and coach Didier Deschamps sounded optimistic that his star forward would be able to play. But Deschamps decided it was not worth the risk to play him against the physical Dutch defenders.
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Mbappe appeared relaxed when he got off the team bus upon arrival at the stadium. He wore sunglasses but no bandage on his nose as he had when he resumed light training on Wednesday.
He emerged before Friday’s game wearing a plain black face mask for the team’s warmup, …