France National Team left out Kylian Mbappé and shocked everyone

The France National Team will play their fifth match for the qualifiers for the next European Championship, which will be played in Germany in 2024. So far they have won all their matches in Group B, which also includes Greece, Netherlands, Gibraltar and Ireland. The latter will be their opponents this Thursday at the Parc des Princes.

Although France will have all their stars for this match, an unexpected decision of Didier Deschamps the day before the game caused the surprise of all journalists who daily report on the news of the team: the coach decided that Kylian Mbappé will not be at the press conference and instead spoke Antoine Griezmann.

Then Deschamps himself spoke publicly and explained the reasons for the decision: "There is no obligation to always have the skipper. In my opinion, it is in the interest of the French national team. I don't think there would have been many questions about the match against Ireland if he had been there. I put the collective interest first. I hope everything went well with Griezmann, even if you keep asking questions about Mbappé."

In doing so, the manager clarified that his aim was to avoid putting the spotlight on Mbappé's future rather than France's match against Ireland. However, he also spoke about the team's star player and said: "Kylian is doing very well, he is back with his club, playing match after match. He is physically and mentally well and here he is the captain of the national team."

What will be the starting lineups?

If nothing unexpected happens, France's XI will be: Mike Maignan; Jules Koundé, Ibrahima Konaté, Dayot Upamecano, Theo Hernandez; Aurélien Tchouaméni, Eduardo Camavinga; Kingsley Coman, Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappé; Randal Kolo Muani. Stephen Kenny, coach of Ireland, decided that the starting lineup will be: Gavin Bazunu; John Egan, Dara O`Shea, Nathan Collins; Jason Knight, Will Smallbone, Josh Cullen, Jamie McGrath, James McClean; Evan Ferguson, Michael Obafemi.