Mbappe accused of faking injury to escape France duty

Kylian Mbappe has been accused of faking an injury to escape international duty by former French winger Jerome Rothen, who said the Real Madrid star was getting preferential treatment. 

The 26-year-old led Les Bleus to a 4-0 triumph over Ukraine a few days ago, scoring twice to become the second youngest player to reach 400 career goals.  

However, he will miss the second game in the international window against Azerbaijan, with the French Football Federation announcing that he sustained an injury. 

 “French internationals Manu Kone, Eduardo Camavinga, and Kylian Mbappe have been released back to their clubs,” the statement read. 

“The French national team delegation is flying to Baku, where they will face Azerbaijan on Sunday at 9:00 PM local time (6:00 PM French time). 

"Camavinga, Kone, and Mbappe will not be making the trip. Kone received a yellow card against Ukraine and is suspended. Cama was suffering from a muscle strain in his left hamstring.

“Mbappe is still experiencing inflammation in his right ankle, which requires further examination. He will undergo these tests today in Madrid.”

Rothen believes that Mbappe is intentionally missing the game against Azerbaijan, as France had already qualified for the World Cup thanks to the win over Ukraine. 

He accused the national team of showing Mbappe preferential treatment and questioned his leadership skills as captain of the national team. 

"We were all asking ourselves the same question in the 80th minute, when we were up 4-0: who was going to fake an injury to avoid going to Baku.”

“Mbappe is the captain of the French national team; he receives special treatment, fine. But he has teammates. Do you really think that all those who go to Baku, those who play as much or more than Mbappe throughout the year, aren't tired and don't want to play this meaningless match? No. But they go because they have to go.

“While you're winning, nobody says anything. But when things start to go wrong, decisions like this take their toll. Making decisions like this can create problems in the locker room, and I remain convinced that there are players fed up with this preferential treatment.”