Kylian Mbappé scored in his return to the France starting lineup during their 1-1 draw with Poland in their final Group D match at Euro 2024.
The point helped secure France’s place in the knockout round portion of the tournament.
Tuesday was Mbappé’s first game since breaking his nose during France’s opening match, a 1-0 win over Austria. Despite being named on the bench, he did not play during their 0-0 draw against the Netherlands last Friday.
As France finishes group play with 1 win and 2 draws out of three games, they dominated possession and fired shot after shot on the Poland goal. It wasn’t until early in the second before they had a breakthrough.
In the 55th minute, Ousmane Dembélé was fouled in the penalty box by Poland’s Jakub Kiwior. Up stepped Mbappé, who then beat goalkeeper Łukasz Skorupski to give France the lead.
Mbappé celebrated by taking off the protective mask he must wear for the remainder of the tournament.
Poland’s equalized in the 79th minute thanks to Robert Lewandowski‘s second chance. His penalty kick goal came after his initial attempt was saved by goalkeeper Mike Maignan. But it was determined that Maignan left the goal line early, forcing a re-kick, which Lewandowski put home.
With France drawing Poland and Austria topping the Netherlands 3-2, Austria wins Group D and France slots into second place. Netherlands finishes with 4 points, which will be enough to earn them one of the four places given to the the best third-place teams of the six total groups in the tournament.
