Mbappé captained France but failed to make an impact as they lost to Italy at the home of PSG in the UEFA Nations League.
New Real Madrid attacker Kylian Mbappé left PSG under something of a cloud and had an unhappy return to the Parc des Princes in Paris as France were beaten by Italy in the UEFA Nations League.
Things couldn’t possibly have started any better for Didier Deschamps’ team, who incredibly took the lead in 13 seconds as Bradley Barcola robbed Giovanni Di Lorenzo inside the Italy half, raced through unchallenged to score.
Even in that blistering opening for Les Bleus, there was perhaps a minor element of disappointment for Mbappé, with Barcola backing himself to beat Gianluigi Donnarumma in a one-on-one, rather than pass to his captain, who he could’ve rolled the ball to for a tap-in.
France threatened to run riot in the opening 10 minutes, but Italy settled into the game thereafter and deservedly turned the game around to secure their first win in Paris in 70 years.
And Luciano Spalletti’s team managed to keep Mbappé incredibly quiet in doing so, with the Madrid forward causing them few problems in his 95 minutes on the field.
The 25-year-old had 65 touches of the ball, more than any of France’s other attacking players, although Antoine Griezmann and Michael Olise were replaced in the second period. But only two of them were efforts on goal, the best of which was a low left-footed effort from inside the box which drew an early save from Donnarumma.
Like France, Mbappé faded after a bright start and he has now scored only four goals in his last 13 appearances for club and country, one of the worst runs of his professional career.