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France captain Kylian Mbappe will sit out the national team's upcoming fixtures after sustaining a hyperextension of his left knee, Real Madrid said Saturday, adding he could still be back in action once La Liga, Spain's top football division, resumes.
"Following tests carried out today by Real Madrid's medical department on our player Kylian Mbappe, he has been diagnosed with a hyperextension of the posterior capsule (the band of tissue behind the knee joint) of his left knee," the Spanish club said in a statement, adding that his progress would continue to be monitored.
The forward went down clutching his knee shortly after opening the scoring in France's 1-0 win over Türkiye on Friday in Kocaeli, the first match of Zinedine Zidane's reign as national team coach.
He was helped off the pitch and did not return, immediately raising concerns given his injury history this season; Mbappe missed several weeks last December with a sprained left knee and only fully shook off the effects of that issue earlier this year.
Zidane, appointed after Didier Deschamps stepped down following France's World Cup semi-final exit to Spain in July, said the federation would not gamble with its captain's fitness.
"We're not going to take any risks," Zidane said, confirming Mbappe would sit out all three of France's remaining UEFA Nations League fixtures over the next 10 days as the team begins its buildup toward Euro 2028.
France travels to Belgium on Monday before returning to the Stade de France to host Italy on Oct. 2 and Belgium again on Oct. 5, a demanding run that Zidane will now navigate without his talisman, who has scored eight goals in eight appearances for Real Madrid this season.
For his club, the timeline is just as delicate. Real Madrid's first fixture after the international break, at home to Villarreal on Oct. 10, is likely to come too soon, but Spanish daily AS reported Saturday that Mbappe is expected to be fully available for the Clasico, the rivalry match against Barcelona, on Oct. 25, a match that could have a significant bearing on the La Liga title race.
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