Kylian Mbappe admits wearing a mask to protect her broken nose is "an absolutely horrible thing".
The French striker, who officially joined Real Madrid after his contract expired at Paris Saint-Germain, broke his nose in the team's Euro 2024 opener and wore a mask for the first time in France's 1-1 draw with Poland after missing the second game against the Netherlands.
He was spotted wearing several different masks in training, and ahead of France's last-16 clash with Belgium on Monday, he revealed how difficult life is with a mask. "I didn't expect that, but playing with a mask is definitely a scary thing," he explained. ”。“ I changed because something went wrong.
"It's really complicated because it restricts vision and the sweat is still blocked, so you have to remove it to flow. On the first day, I had the impression that I was in 3D and I was invited to participate in the European Cup as a VIP...... I saw people and I didn't think it was me who was competing. ”。
"As long as I can take it off, I'm going to take it off. Now I don't have a choice, I wouldn't play without it. It's annoying. You see I've changed five times, but not all the photos, I've changed more than that. My game will be like that and it won't be an excuse because I can only play like that and I have to say thank you to the mask. ”
Mbappe suffered a further nose injury in the last unexpected clash with Poland's Robert Lewandowski and admitted he feared Belgium would try to target his injury.
"It's possible," he admitted. "When you have a broken nose and you don't have surgery, you're targeted." Lewandowski didn't mean it, I had an instinctive reaction to the pain, but a lot of kids are watching the game and you have to control yourself.
"I know what I'm going to get into, it's not an easy situation, but it's not something new either. I can take the blow but I'm ready to give everything for this jersey. If my nose has to hurt to make it to the quarterfinals, it's already broken, so it won't be broken again. ”