Ousmane Dembélé to captain France in Kylian Mbappé’s absence

Ousmane Dembélé to captain France in Kylian Mbappé’s absence Paris Saint-Germain forward Ousmane Dembélé (29) will captain the France national team in the absence of Kylian Mbappé (27) for the remainder of the international break after the latter was forced to withdraw from Zinédine Zidane’s squad due to injury. Mbappé scored the only goal as the Zidane era got off to a winning start in the win over Turkiye in the UEFA Nations League on Friday night. But the Real Madrid forward sustained a knee injury in the process and his withdrawal from the squad has already been confirmed by the FFF. A replacement will not be called up. It was revealed by L’Équipe that Dembélé was one of four captains elected for this international break by Zidane. Adrien Rabiot and Jules Koundé, the other most-capped players in the squad, are also captains. It is Dembélé who, bar Mbappé, had the most caps, who will wear the armband for the rest of the international break (if he starts), L’Équipe understands. Les Bleus must face Belgium twice in the Nations League, as well as Italy. GFFN | Luke Entwistle