France loses Mbappe to Iceland after injury in Azerbaijan’s World Cup win Football news

France beat Azerbaijan 3-0 on Friday, moving closer to qualifying for the 2026 World Cup, but Kylian Mbappe was injured.

The French national team confirmed that Kylian Mbappe will miss Monday’s qualifying match in Iceland, where France can book its ticket to the 2026 World Cup, after suffering another bruise on his right ankle.

Mbappe was already suffering from “slight pain” in his right ankle due to playing for Real Madrid, and suffered two blows during Friday’s 3-0 win over Azerbaijan in the World Cup qualifiers in Paris, where he opened the scoring but was substituted before the end of the match.

The France captain’s absence adds to the long list of strikers unavailable for October’s World Cup qualifiers, which includes Ousmane Dembélé, Desire Du, Marcus Thuram and Bradley Barkola.

A statement from the French Football Federation (FFF) said that Mbappe “will not be able to play on Monday against Iceland.”

After returning to the training ground in Clairefontaine on Friday night, the French national team captain “spoke with (coach) Didier Deschamps,” who “acknowledged his absence.”

The French Football Federation added that Mbappe “has been transferred to his club (Real Madrid) and will not be replaced.”

The French star had already taken a break from training with the French national team during the week due to the same problem.

Mbappe scored a goal at the end of the first half, then received a strong blow from Rustam Ahmadzadeh. He suffered another blow to the same ankle late in the game and was replaced by Florian Thauvin.

“He has pain in his ankle and he had a bruise there,” Deschamps said after France’s victory. “He preferred to go out; the pain was too great.”

Adrien Rabiot and substitute Thauvin were also on the scoresheet as Deschamps’ men remained unbeaten after three matches and top of Group D.

France will reserve a ticket to the United States, Canada and Mexico next year if it wins in Iceland on Monday and Ukraine fails to defeat Azerbaijan.