European Championship preliminary round match
Mbappé has to leave the field with a bleeding nose – and then receives a yellow card for a trick
Referee Jesús Manzano shows France’s Kylian Mbappé the yellow card
© Lars Baron / Getty Images
He had to leave the field injured and then made an illegal entry. France’s Kylian Mbappé was shown the yellow card for this in the European Championship match against Austria. He had a specific goal in mind with this action.
In the heated final phase of the European Championship match between France and Austria in Düsseldorf, Kylian Mbappé received a yellow card after illegally entering the field when the score was 1-0. The French superstar obviously wanted to help his team with the illegal action.
In the 86th minute, Mbappé hit his head against the shoulder of Austria’s Kevin Danso during a header and was left lying on the ground with a heavily bleeding nose. The French medical staff rushed onto the pitch and treated the 25-year-old Real Madrid professional. Mbappé then left the pitch – as required by the rules – in a shirt stained with blood.
Kylian Mbappé receives yellow card after strange action
Austria used the break in play to make a substitution, but two French substitutes waiting on the sidelines were not allowed to enter the pitch, which caused some excitement among France’s coach Didier Deschamps. The game initially continued – without Mbappé and without a French substitution.
After the Austrians quickly threw in the next ball that went out of play and again no substitution was made, Mbappé, who had just received medical treatment, returned to the pitch without the referee’s permission and fell down. He provoked a stoppage in play and was shown a yellow card for the rule violation. He continued to hold his nose. “You have to say that he put himself at the service of the team,” said ARD expert Almuth Schult during the live broadcast. “He’s getting a yellow card now; if he got a second one he would be banned from a tournament match.” The Frenchman accepted this in order to enable his team to make a substitution.
At least he managed that, and the Équipe Tricolore was then down to eleven players. Antoine Griezmann, who had also suffered a bleeding wound during the match, was able to leave the field in the 91st minute, as was Mbappé himself. Youssouf Fofana and Olivier Giroud came on.
France ultimately held on to its 1-0 lead thanks to an own goal by Austrian Max Wöber in the 38th minute, giving it the best chance of reaching the round of 16. On Sunday, the Netherlands beat Poland 2-1 in their first Group D match in Hamburg (you can see all the goals and highlights of the match in the video here).
It was not initially known whether Mbappé’s injury was more serious, for example a broken nose.