Kylian Mbappe returns to lead France against Croatia after a six-month absence and on Wednesday criticized himself over how he handled the captaincy before.
The Real Madrid star captains Les Bleus in Split in the first leg of a Nations League quarterfinal on Thursday, with the return leg on Sunday at Stade de France.
It will be his first start for France since a 3-1 loss to Italy on Sept. 6. That match was held at Parc des Princes, home to his former club Paris Saint-Germain. Mbappe said he did not handle things well at the time.
“I am lucid enough to know what I do well and what I don’t do well. I know people were not happy with what I was doing on and off the field, and I wasn’t doing them well,” Mbappe said at a pre-match news conference. “I have no problem questioning myself. I have never had any problem with criticism when it is deserved and well-argued.”
The 26-year-old Mbappe is third on France’s all-time scoring list with 48 goals, but he has found the net in only two of his past 12 international games. There were doubts as to whether Mbappe would keep the captaincy, but he did so following discussions with coach Didier Deschamps.
The 2018 World Cup winner was left out of Nations League matches against Israel and Italy last November, when Deschamps said “it’s better that way” given Mbappe’s physical and mental struggles.
Mbappe was also absent from a previous gathering because of a minor thigh injury, but nevertheless played for Real Madrid, thus angering many France fans.
After a difficult start to his Madrid career, Mbappe is now scoring freely and has 31 goals in 44 games this season.
Mbappe only has Thierry Henry (51 goals) and Olivier Giroud (57) ahead of him in the national team.
Mbappe is set to be reunited in attack with PSG forward Ousmane Dembele, the French league’s top scorer.
Both have already reached 30 goals overall this season, but while Mbappe did so for the seventh time in a row, the newly prolific Dembele managed it for the first time.
Dembele has a lot of catching up to do, however, with just six international goals in 53 games.