Mbappé Limps Off With Apparent Knee Injury

Kylian Mbappé scored France's 54th-minute winner in a 1-0 Nations League win over Turkey in Zinedine Zidane's first match as head coach, then left after hyperextending his left knee on the shot. He skipped celebration, clutched the knee, received treatment, tried to continue, went down again, and was replaced by Désiré Doué. Ugurcan Cakir saw a red card in the 87th minute. France has three Nations League matches left, against Belgium twice and Italy. Zidane said things are not going well, he thinks Mbappé will return to Real Madrid, France will take no risks, and the hyperextension is not encouraging. Outlets ran slightly different translations of those remarks. The France national team described a left-knee tendon injury. CBS Sports said the team stated the injury would force Mbappé to miss the rest of the international break. An MRI was pending as Mbappé returned to Real Madrid for assessment ahead of the club's Oct. 3 home match with Villarreal and the Oct. 25 El Clásico at Barcelona. CBS Sports put the substitution in the 57th minute; TribalFootball said the 58th; SI FC said the 59th. CBS Sports said Mbappé missed nine Real Madrid games in 2025-26 with muscular or knee issues; SI FC said seven matches after left-knee injury on two occasions.