France manager Didier Deschamps insisted Kylian Mbappe can play as a centre-forward even though some may call him crazy.

The Real Madrid forward was shockingly left out of France’s squad for November’s Nations League fixtures against Israel and Italy, but that didn’t keep Mbappe’s name out of the headlines. After refusing to elaborate on the omission of his captain, who is fully fit but in poor form, Deschamps did offer his opinion on the hotly debated topic of how to get the most out of the 25-year-old.

Following a 3-1 victory over Italy at San Siro on Sunday night – which saw Paris Saint-Germain’s Randal Kolo Muani start up front alongside Inter striker Marcus Thuram – Deschamps was quizzed on Mbappe’s best position.

“He can play in several positions,” the defiant French coach told Telefoot, “after that it’s a question of association. You might tell me that I’m ‘crazy’ to put him as a centre forward but he also played centre forward with his last two club coaches.

“He doesn’t have [Olivier] Giroud’s profile, of course, so it all depends on which team we’re playing against. When he’s in the centre, he has a preference for the left centre rather than the right centre even though I saw him at Real Madrid rather occupying the right centre. It’s a balance of positions [but you have to] always leave a lot of freedom.”

Mbappe ended the long-running transfer saga by leaving PSG to join Real Madrid on a free last summer. After a goal on his debut against Atalanta in the UEFA Super Cup, the high-profile striker has struggled to live up to the lofty expectations which he set in Paris.

“He is in a complicated situation,” Deschamps said of Mbappe, who boasts eight goals in 16 games across all competitions this season. “He is supposed to find everything that he could have done very well even if he was also less effective [at times] in 2024.”

Real Madrid’s 4-0 Clasico thrashing at the hands of Barcelona was a particular nadir for Mbappe, who squandered a glut of chances and was memorably caught offside eight times. The Frenchman again drew a blank in Madrid’s dismal Champions League defeat to AC Milan before skirting around the fringes of a home win over Osasuna on the eve of the international break.

Despite overlooking Mbappe for France’s fixtures this month, Deschamps was optimistic that his captain would rediscover his best form. “I hope so and I don’t see why he wouldn’t come back,” the manager said. “He has a complicated, more difficult period, but he has everything to do what he did again.”

90mins

Barcelona coach Hansi Flick criticised the “wrong decision” to disallow Robert Lewandowski’s goal for offside as his team were beaten 1-0 at Real Sociedad on Sunday in LaLiga.

Lewandowski thought he had opened the scoring at Anoeta in the 14th minute, but semi-automated offside technology (SAOT), introduced in Spain at the start of the season, ruled the striker’s toe was marginally ahead of La Real defender Nayef Aguerd’s foot.

The hosts went on to win the game through Sheraldo Becker’s strike, ending Barça’s seven-game winning streak in all competitions. For the first time this season, Flick’s team failed to find the net in a game.

“It was the wrong decision, clear,” Flick told Barça One after the match. “I saw the picture. It’s clear, it’s clear, but we have to accept it.

“It was not the referee’s fault. At the end of the day, we are humans, we make mistakes, and today was a big mistake.”

SAOT is not used universally across Europe. Italy’s Serie A was the first major league to implement it, and there is a desire to introduce it in the Premier League, but its rollout in England has been delayed as testing continues.

Flick was adamant it failed in Lewandowski’s goal. He aired his thoughts to the referee at half-time, although he played down the idea that he had come across as “angry” in the discussion.

Hansi Flick looks on during Barcelona’s loss to Real Sociedad, the second league defeat for his team this season. Getty Images
“It was not so angry,” he laughed in his post-game news conference. “I said only to him ‘It was a goal, it was wrong decision, it was not offside.’

“But it was not his fault. We have to accept it. Until then, with the 1-0 for us, it would be a different match. But at the end, it was different and it was not our day.

“At the end, it’s a defeat, but the matches before and after the last break were fantastic. I appreciate the team and how they are doing.”

Barça’s second league defeat of the season also came with Lamine Yamal watching from the stands after bruising his ankle in the midweek Champions League victory over Red Star Belgrade.

The 17-year-old, who has six goals and eight assists in 16 appearances this season, did not start the last time Barça lost in LaLiga, either, against Osasuna in September.

“I think it would be an easy answer to say ‘OK, we lost because Lamine wasn’t there,'” Flick said when asked if it was just a coincidence they have lost both matches the teenager has not started.

“Of course a player like this quality Lamine has, every team will miss it. But in the end, we started well. I think the goal, what I can say was a wrong decision, absolutely, but we have to accept it.

“After the La Real goal we suffered a little bit. I think today was not our day, also in the offense we did not the clear chances to make goals. We made wrong decisions in the last third. We have to accept it today.”

Flick added that Barça’s and Spain’s doctors will now decide whether Yamal joins up with the national team for upcoming fixtures against Denmark and Switzerland in the UEFA Nations League.

The defeat to La Real sees Barça’s lead at the top of LaLiga cut to six points, while second-placed Real Madrid also have a game in hand. They return to action after the international break against Celta Vigo on Nov. 23.

Éder Militão suffered a torn ACL while Rodrygo and Lucas Vasquez were substituted in the first half of Real Madrid’s 4-0 win over Osasuna on Saturday to further compound their injury woes.

Vinícius Júnior scored a hat trick for Madrid, and Jude Bellingham netted his first goal of the season, but the victory was soured by the triple injury blow to Militão, Rodrygo and Vázquez.

“It was a good game, we controlled it well from the start,” coach Carlo Ancelotti said in his post-match news conference. “From when we opened the scoring, the team looked good. The shame is the injuries in the first half. We’re assessing them now, and we’ll see.

“Three injuries in the first half is quite strange. The calendar is demanding and doesn’t allow the players to rest, they go into games tired, so the risk of injuries is higher.”

Forward Rodrygo — who had only just returned to the team after recovering from a hamstring problem — was withdrawn in the 20th minute at the Bernabéu, and replaced by Brahim Díaz.

Centre-back Militão needed treatment 10 minutes later before being stretchered off, with youngster Raul Asencio being introduced in his place.

Madrid confirmed in a statement later on Saturday that Militão has torn his left ACL and will undergo surgery in the next few days. The Brazil international missed a majority of last season with an ACL tear in the same leg. It is the fourth ACL injury suffered by a Madrid player in the past year with Thibaut Courtois and David Alaba have having also suffered torn ACLs in the past year.

Full-back Vázquez was then withdrawn at halftime, and was replaced by Luka Modric.

Madrid are short in defence, with Dani Carvajal out for the season with a serious injury, and Alaba not yet fully recovered.

They are also without goalkeeper Courtois, who has a thigh injury, and midfielder Aurélien Tchouaméni — who sometimes fills in at the back — who has an ankle sprain.

“We have to thank the academy for the work they’ve done with [Asencio],” Ancelotti said. “He’s a player we need at this time … Raul has been doing well with [reserve team] Castilla and now he’ll be with us.”

Ancelotti wouldn’t say if the string of injuries made January signings more likely.

“We’ll assess it in the coming months,” he said. “Right now there’s nothing we can do. We’ll evaluate what we can do in January.”

“I don’t want to talk about it, because it hurts me to see my teammates crying,” Diaz said post-match when asked about the club’s injury woes.

“It breaks my heart. I’ve come back from a long injury and now it’s their turn. It seems like they could be longer than usual … It breaks my heart.”

Madrid had gone into the Osasuna game under pressure, after being beaten twice at home in their previous two matches, against Barcelona and AC Milan.

They now have a two-week break, before returning to action against Leganés on Nov. 24 and travelling to Anfield to play Liverpool in the Champions League on Nov. 27.

Saturday’s win leaves Madrid six points behind LaLiga leaders Barcelona, who play on Sunday.