Euro 2024: Will Kylian Mbappe start for France against Austria?

The Les Bleus were eliminated in knockouts in the last Euro

2022 World Cup runners-up and one of the contenders for Euro 2024, Kylian Mbappe’s France take against Austria in Dusseldorf on Monday to begin their quest for glory.

The other teams in Group D are the Netherlands and Poland. With eight victories from ten games and just one loss—to Germany—France had a successful 2023. In their first four games of the year, France had already suffered two defeats, 2-0 against Germany in a March exhibition and 0-0 against Canada in their final match before Euro 2024 last week.

Ahead of the approaching elections, French athletes have been vocal about politics. Forward Marcus Thuram has urged the French people to “fight daily” to prevent the extreme right from gaining power.

Kylian Mbappe looks set to start vs Austria

After missing out on scoring at Euro 2020, Kylian Mbappe has something to prove, therefore we’re anticipating huge things from him this summer in Germany.

Already the recipient of the World Cup Golden Boot, there are a few reasons to believe that France will depend on him for goals more than before.

The first is that France’s all-time leading goal scorer, Olivier Giroud, is probably going to start the competition as a substitute. Giroud’s replacement, Marcus Thuram, is a less gifted striker, therefore Mbappe will have to work harder to score goals.

Second, as much as ever, Mbappe is anticipated to be the focal point of France’s assault. Giroud won’t be controlling the penalty area, so if he starts the competition on the bench as expected, Mbappe will have more opportunity to get into scoring positions during free play than he did at the World Cup in Qatar eighteen months ago.

One of France’s seven qualifying victories was a record 14-0 thumping of Gibraltar, but although Deschamps’s team easily defeated Luxembourg 3-0 in their opening friendly of the month, a dull goalless draw against Canada on June 9 was hardly a fitting farewell.

Les Bleus, meanwhile, have not lost in a group-stage match since Euro 2012. In fact, they had Austria beaten in the previous Nations League cycle, holding them to a 1-1 draw in June 2022 before winning easily 2-0 at Stade de France just weeks later.

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