Football: Zidane makes his mark but loses big with Mbappé

Zinedine Zidane began his project to reshape the French team with a victory in Turkey (1-0), but Kylian Mbappé's withdrawal for the rest of the camp constitutes a false setback in the development of a new attacking approach.

The newly appointed national team coach had every reason to be relieved at the final whistle in Izmit. After a long wait to succeed Didier Deschamps, the legendary former number 10 had undoubtedly imagined a thousand scenarios for his baptism of fire. He was therefore able to breathe a sigh of relief after his team's victory, the positive result, secured thanks to a goal from his captain, having the merit of overshadowing an uneven performance and the imperfections observed throughout the match.

"We are satisfied to have won tonight in our first match, on a difficult pitch. We are really happy with this victory after 3-4 training sessions. This bodes well for us. We still have a lot of things to work on but we can be satisfied and we must tell ourselves that this is the normal process," he judged.

A man of few words, Zidane did not really elaborate on his future projects, wanting to focus only on the three points, which will allow him to approach the rest of his adventure and his next three Nations League matches (away to Belgium on Monday, home games against Italy and Belgium at the Stade de France on October 2 and 5) with much more serenity.

The pressure will inevitably be on in two days in Brussels against the Red Devils, World Cup quarter-finalists and the first real test of his tenure. But Zidane is thus avoiding immediate pressure and will be able to continue implementing his ideas, moving forward with his desire to break with the Deschamps era.

Among the new features, the 4-3-3 system, which contrasts with the 4-2-3-1 of his previous one, still needs to be refined, but the midfield, composed of Manu Koné, Adrien Rabiot and Rayan Cherki, generally did well in Turkey.

Mbappé, the first setback

Replaced in an unusual position as a central midfielder, Cherki was the pleasant surprise of the evening.

"I am at the heart of the game. I can help my teammates in the best way possible," the Manchester City player rejoiced.

"We tried to get the ball back very quickly, we maintained a team balance throughout the match. We know we are good with the ball, we need to be good without the ball too," the coach noted.

The main question concerns the attack. By opting for a trio of Michaël Olise, Ousmane Dembélé, and Kylian Mbappé, after Deschamps' four-man attacking system, Zidane has made a bold choice whose effectiveness is still difficult to assess.

While Olise was quite comfortable in his usual right-wing position at Bayern Munich, his two teammates struggled more, with Mbappé, shifted to the left after two years in the center, saving his evening with his 67th goal for the French national team.

Having injured his left knee during the play, the captain had to leave his teammates immediately and will miss the next three matches. A huge setback that Zidane could have done without, especially since this first international break is supposed to be an opportunity to refine team cohesion and deepen understanding of his principles.

Without the top scorer in the history of Les Bleus, who will not be replaced in the list, the new boss loses not only an exceptional player, who scored 12 goals for the national team in 2026, but also time to make his mark on the attack.

AFP