BLOODY PERFORMANCE: France edges Austria as Mbappe suffers broken nose

DUSSELDORF, Germany (AFP) — Kylian Mbappe came off late on with a broken nose as France edged Austria, 1-0, in their opening game at Euro 2024 following Slovakia inflicted a surprise 1-0 defeat on Belgium and Romania beat Ukraine on Monday.

France, the runner-up in the 2022 World Cup, is one of the standout contenders for European Championship glory in Germany, but it was not entirely convincing against a hard-running Austria side and needed a Maximilian Woeber own goal to claim the victory.

Defender Woeber diverted Mbappe’s cutback into his own net seven minutes before half-time to decide the Group D game and leave France level on three points at the top of the section with the Netherlands.

Mbappe may have made the goal, but it was otherwise a difficult night for the new Real Madrid signing.

He was denied twice by Austrian goalkeeper Patrick Pentz in the first half and failed to hit the target from a glorious chance when sent clean through 10 minutes after the restart.

Mbappe then had to come off in the 90th minute after being left with a bloodied nose in an accidental collision with Austrian defender Kevin Danso.

A source close to the France captain confirmed to AFP shortly after the game that his nose was broken.

The French team will hope that does not prevent him playing in Friday’s second group match in Leipzig against the Netherlands, who beat Poland 2-1 in their first outing on Sunday.

“He is not good. He is in a bad way. His nose is a mess, that is for sure. That is the black mark on the evening for us,” France coach Didier Deschamps told reporters.

“It is a good start to the competition, a good basis from which to build,” midfielder N’Golo Kante told broadcaster beIN Sport of the result.

“We need to keep this up, be more clinical and tougher, but it is a good start.”

Austria, who play Poland next, were left to rue a big chance missed by Christoph Baumgartner when the game was still goalless.

“I think Didier Deschamps was really happy when the final whistle came which shows how well my team played,” Austria coach Ralf Rangnick said.

Belgium may no longer rank among the leading contenders but they were not expected to start with a defeat against Slovakia in Frankfurt, where Ivan Schranz of Slavia Prague scored the only goal.

Schranz struck in the seventh minute, firing home the rebound after Belgian goalkeeper Koen Casteels had saved from Juraj Kucchas.

It was an especially frustrating day for Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku, who missed a host of chances and had a late equalizer controversially disallowed by VAR.

He had already had one effort ruled out for a marginal offside call before he swept home a Lois Openda cutback in the 86th minute.

This time, however, the goal was disallowed because the ball had brushed Openda’s hand at the beginning of the move.

Belgium’s first defeat since the 2022 World Cup puts Domenico Tedesco’s team under pressure going into their second Group E match against Romania on Saturday.

Romania won at a major international tournament for the first time in 24 years as it beat Ukraine, 3-0, with the help of two errors from goalkeeper Andriy Lunin.

Captain Nicolae Stanciu’s magnificent long-range strike — following a misplaced Lunin clearance — gave Romania, backed by the vast majority of the Munich crowd, a first-half lead.