Deschamps hails Mbappé’s display in France win | OneFootball

Star player Kylian Mbappé saved France against Iceland in a 2-1 victory, scoring his 52nd goal for ‘Les Bleus’ and providing an assist this Tuesday at the Parc des Princes, in the second round of Group D of the European Qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup.

With the come-from-behind win, the French national team reached six points and leads the group, three ahead of Iceland, while Ukraine and Azerbaijan have one each. The winner of each group qualifies directly for the World Cup, which will be held in the United States, Mexico, and Canada.

Without standing out, captain Mbappé converted a penalty just before halftime (45′) and provided the assist for Bradley Barcola (62′), who scored the winning goal, avoiding a slip-up at home.

His penalty just before halftime prevented his team from going into the locker room trailing 1-0, after a goal by Andri Gudjonhsen (22′), who took advantage of a bad pass from Michael Olise.

Mbappé’s Record

Mbappé becomes the second-highest scorer in the history of ‘Les Bleus’. He surpassed Thierry Henry (51), whom he had equaled in the match against Ukraine (2-0) last Friday, in which he had a much more convincing performance.

Kylian Mbappé has only Olivier Giroud (57 goals) ahead of him, but the record is already within reach.

The Real Madrid player (who has already worn the French jersey in 92 matches, scoring 52 goals) converted the penalty won by Marcus Thuram after a foul committed by Mikael Anderson.

He received applause and his name was chanted in his former stadium, the Parc des Princes, home of Paris Saint-Germain.

Eleven Penalties and Counting…

It was the 11th penalty converted by the striker in matches for the French national team (with two missed penalties). He scored the first penalty goal of his international career precisely against Iceland, on October 11, 2018 (a 2-2 draw), in a friendly at Stade Roudourou, in Guingamp.

On that occasion, Mbappé saved ‘Les Bleus’ from an embarrassing defeat against the “Strákarnir okkar” (“Our boys” in Icelandic).

Assist for Barcola

This Tuesday, Mbappé also showed his altruism by providing an assist for Barcola on a counterattack initiated by an excellent long pass from Aurélien Tchouameni.

After the sending off of his Real Madrid teammate for a foul on Jon Thorsteinsson (68′), the captain went to the sideline to discuss reorganization with Didier Deschamps.

With ten men against eleven, to preserve the six points earned in two matches in the Qualifiers, he remained isolated up front to play on the counterattack, without success, despite numerous runs.

Not everything was perfect in his match, starting with a weak shot after a turn that left him annoyed with himself (2′).

The 2018 World Cup champion squandered other chances, shooting into the hands of goalkeeper Elias Olafsson (28′) and skying the ball (73′) in a play where he could have sealed the victory.

Deschamps Recognizes Mbappé’s Leadership

“Kylian is mentally well, in good physical shape, he’s working very hard,” assured coach Didier Deschamps in an interview with TF1. “He is efficient, he’s a great leader. He has freedom, knows how to stand out, and has good chemistry with Michael Olise,” praised the coach.

In the last minute of regulation time, Andri Gudjohnsen put the ball in the net and the Icelanders celebrated. But after consulting VAR, the referee disallowed the goal after seeing a foul by the striker on Konaté.

“There are many lessons to be learned, not just the positive ones. This allows us to work, to see where we are failing, where we can improve,” said Mbappé after the match.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.