Kylian Mbappe is human then. The France captain had an off night in front of goal — which ended in a bloody mess — in their win over Austria and it took an own goal from Max Wober for Didier Deschamps to sneak a victory.
Ralf Rangnick’s side battled gamely throughout and Christoph Baumgartner missed a great chance to give them the lead. That proved costly when Mbappe’s dazzling feet and cross caused Wober to head into own net in the 38th minute.
Mbappe failed to hit the target at all with the best chance of the second half and he and Antoine Griezmann suffered injuries that drew blood as the match became a tense battle as France held on for the points.
None of the players were helped by a patchwork pitch in Dusseldorf that has been relaid three times in recent weeks — and there are four more games to play on it.
The Athletic’s Amy Lawrence, Sam Lee and Mark Carey analyse the action.
Mbappe’s messy opening outing
There is no such thing as a quiet outing for Mbappe. It seems incredible that he won his 80th cap here — veteran’s numbers – yet we still look at him in wonder. That fierce pace was the difference for France, even during a match when he must have wondered how he did not score more prolifically. A heavy touch here stole away a good chance, a slightly misread angle there cost him at a one-on-one. But his super-speed gear took some pressure off his team when they were obviously suffering against the intensity of Austria’s manic pressers.
He did not need much space for the short burst of acceleration to tell. It was a 0-60 before the defenders were able to blink – those closest to him were unable to do anything about the cross he fizzed in, and befuddled Wober’s glancing header did the rest. The thing about Mbappe being the centre of attention is that you can’t take your eyes off him for a split second.
France’s front section looks like it needs work. The blend of Mbappe, flanked by Dembele and Thuram with Griezmann floating behind, was not tasty enough. Moving forward they will want better decision making, more fluency, and a creative swagger.
Mbappe started the night surrounded by giddy mascots who appeared not to notice there were 21 other players. He ended the night with a bloody nose. Leading the responsibility for your nation can be a painful business.
(Michael Regan – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
Amy Lawrence
Why are so many France players in unfamiliar positions?
It is not unusual for France to start tournaments sluggishly. Even when they won the World Cup in 2018, when they opened with a slightly fortuitous win against hard working opposition thanks to an own goal, the critics were sharp. Not expressive enough, not joyous enough, not convincing enough.
If France began looking muddled against Austria, and needed some time to find a rhythm. One of the reasons they lacked some balance and cohesion is that quite a number of players were positioned in an irregular role.
Even looking at the attack, trying Marcus Thuram (centre forward for AC Milan) and Mbappe (so often stationed on the left) in reverse roles was not particularly fluid.
At the back, Joules Kounde plays for Barcelona just as often at centre-back as right-back, but the biggest challenge was for William Saliba, who is used to being the right hand man of the central defensive pair but has to shift over to the left.
Saliba was used on the left, he plays on the right of Arsenal’s central defence (Marvin Ibo Guengoer – GES Sportfoto/Getty Images)
His body shape was affected by that, and it created a touch of hesitancy. His game was not quite as natural as he shows for Arsenal. Has he done enough to merit another chance? Only Deschamps knows the answer to that one and the rest of us will find out when the teams are announced for France’s next match against the Netherlands. He has seen his team grow into tournaments often enough.
Amy Lawrence
What’s wrong with the Dusseldorf pitch?
Another day, another ‘I thought European tournaments were supposed to be well organised?’ talking point. This time it was the pitch at the Dusseldorf Arena, which has been relaid not once but twice in the past three weeks. Premier League groundstaff like to give a new pitch at least five-seven weeks after being relaid to allow it to bed in properly, depending on weather and the stadium design (ones that allow a lot of wind in at the corners helps growth).
This one was done after Dusseldorf’s Bundesliga relegation play-off against Bochum on May 27, only for UEFA officials to deem it ‘unsatisfactory’ and ask for it to be re-done, which was only last week.
After the transport shambles around the England match on Sunday, and similar issues elsewhere, it does make you wonder what the reaction would be if this were in basically any other continent.
There were eight groundstaff working on the pitch at half-time and it cut up badly when Mbappe went through on the goal and Kevin Danso tried to tackle him. Good luck to those working on the pitch as they have four more matches still to come, including a quarter-final.
The pitch cuts up under Danso’s attempted tackle (OZAN KOSE/AFP via Getty Images)
Sam Lee
How does Deschamps solve defensive issue Mbappe causes?
From an attacking perspective, France’s captain can create something out of nothing, just as he did for the opening goal. His swift stepover, dart to the byline, and driven cross forced Austria’s Max Wober into heading the ball into the back of his own net.
On the other side of the coin, France have to account for Mbappe’s lack of defensive intensity as Austria were able to build out from the back and reach the middle third with little confrontation.
Deschamps does have a defensive puzzle to solve (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Didier Deschamps men did stay in a compact 4-4-2 mid-block out of possession — which largely worked well — but Austria could build momentum in their attack as they bypassed France’s forwards with ease.
In many ways, this suited France to retreat slightly in order to make space for their pacey attackers to exploit. However, they might not have that same luxury against better sides in the knockout stages, who are more likely to punish France before they get the opportunity to counter.
A constant quandary for Deschamps in major tournaments, and it was on show again.
Mark Carey
What happened to Griezmann?
Antoine Griezmann had a difficult evening, having been barged into the Visit Qatar advertising hoardings by Wober right at the start of the second half, landing headfirst on the solid screen and drawing blood.
France right-back Jules Kounde and winger Ousmane Dembele were pretty annoyed about it as Griezmann lay prone on the turf for a few moments, though Wober carried on as if nothing out-of-the-ordinary had happened.
He re-emerged not long afterwards with a huge bandage around his head, which, surprisingly given the amount of material committed to it, lasted about a minute before it was disregarded onto the (increasingly patchy) turf.
Griezmann was treated for a head knock (FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images)
He ended up with blood all over his right knee, which was evident during replays of an incident where his left leg buckled after being fallen on by Patrick Wimmer. He shrugged it all off to continue to the 90th minute, though, and can be sure of another battle against the Netherlands on Friday night.
Sam Lee
Was Austria’s display really a surprise?
Before Euro 2024, many were excited to see the fruits of Ralf Rangnick’s labour in a major tournament, having joined the Austrian national team in summer 2022.
Rangnick has transformed Austria from a passive, laboured side into one of the most front-footed, energetic teams in the mould of his Red Bull style of play.
France will have known what to expect ahead of the game, but they did not have things their own way for long periods as Austria switched from a structured 4-4-2 defensive block into an aggressive man-for-man press that France struggled to break out of at times.
Nicolas Seiwald was particularly solid in midfield, as a player schooled in the RB model, with his eight tackles being more than any player on the field on Monday evening. Rangnick’s style of play requires strong fitness and near-perfect timing out of possession, which is easier said than done for an international team who typically have little time to work on a co-ordinated press. Austria may not have won the game, but their performance against one of the favourites to win the tournament was still impressive.
What did Ralf Rangnick say?
We will bring you this after he has spoken at the post-match press conference.
What did Didier Deschamps say?
We will bring you this after he has spoken at the post-match press conference.
What next for Austria?
Friday, June 21: Poland, Group D (Berlin), 5pm BST, noon ET
What next for France?
Friday, June 21: Netherlands, Group D (Leipzig), 8pm BST, 3pm ET
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(Top photo: OZAN KOSE/AFP via Getty Images))
