Kylian Mbappe was injured while scoring the winner as the former French champions began their Nations League campaign by beating Turkey at the Turka Arac Muayene Kocaeli Stadyumu in Zinedine Zidane’s first game as Les Bleus manager.
striker of Real Madrid Mbappé he picked up a pass from Michael Olise inside the box and went in on 54 minutes, only to grimace as the ball hit the net and made way for Desire Doue soon after.
⚽️ BUUUUUT FROM MBAPPÉ! 🇫🇷🔥
The captain of the blues opens the scoring and delivers France! 🤩
🇹🇷 Turkey 0-1 France 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/QU1KfUv345— TF1 (@TF1) September 25, 2026
The visitors dominated possession and did much of the attacking though Turkey would have gone ahead five minutes after the restart, but Mike Maignan’s superb save deflected Ismail Yuksek’s header over the bar, emulating Ugurcan Cakir’s acrobatic save just before the break to push Michael Olise’s little behind.
Cakir was shown a straight red card three minutes from time, having been adjudged to have stopped Bradley Barcola’s run by handling the ball outside the box following a video assistant referee check.
Turkey-France: injury to Kylian Mbappé
With Madrid faltering in recent weeks, Jose Mourinho now has an added concern that his side could be without last season’s top scorer in La Liga when they play next October 10.
Los Blancos’ defeat at Atlético de Madrid last Sunday was their second in five games and has left them six points behind leaders Barcelona.
Turkey manager Vincenzo Montella had plenty of injuries to deal with ahead of this game and can take some satisfaction from his side’s performance in an engrossing game following promotion to the A-League.
Montella’s side were playing for the first time since their baffling World Cup campaign ended at the group stage.
what happens next Matches of the League of Nations of France and Turkey
Both teams are up next on Monday.
| date | fixation | Start time BST | E.T | P.T |
| September 28 | Turkey vs Italy | 7:45 p.m | 2:45 p.m | 11:45 a.m |
| September 28 | Belgium vs France | 7:45 p.m | 2:45 p.m | 11:45 a.m |
For information on live coverage worldwide, visit UEFA List of international broadcasters of the League of Nations.
Selection of Turkey against France
Turkey made four changes from their last 3-2 World Cup win over USA on June 26, with Merih Demiral in defence, Can Uzun and Ismail Yuksek in midfield and Ferdi Kadioglu on the left.
Turkey: Ugurcan Cakir, Zeki Celik, Merih Demiral, Salih Ozcan, Arda Guler, Can Uzun, Abdulkerim Bardakci, Ismail Yuksek, Oguz Aydin, Ferdi Kadioglu, Baris Alper Yilmaz
Substitutes: Altay Bayındır, Okan Kocuk, Emirhan Topcu, Melih Kabasakal, Kerem Akturkoglu, Deniz Gul, Eren Elmali, Ozan Kabak, Irfan Can Kahveci, Yunus Akgun, Aral Simsir
France selection against Turkey in the League of Nations
France made four changes after their 6-4 loss to England in the World Cup third-place match, bringing in Adrien Truffert and Jules Kounde in defence, Manu Kone in midfield and Ousmane Dembele in attack.
France: Mike Maignan, Adrien Truffert, Dayot Upamecano, Jules Kounde, Ousmane Dembele, Manu Kone, Rayan Cherki, Kylian Mbappe, Michael Olise, Adrien Rabiot, Maxence Lacroix
Substitutes: Guillaume Restes, Jean Butez, Pierre Kalulu, Eduardo Camavinga, Bradley Barcola, Andy Diouf, Leny Yoro, Maghnes Akliouche, Esteban Lepaul, Desire Doue, Lucas Da Cunha, Jeremy Jacquet
Statistics of Turkey and France from the League of Nations
- This was Turkey’s 655th match of all time with a record of 260 wins and 244 losses, including a 4-1 win over Georgia in World Cup qualifying last year in their only previous game at Kocaeli Stadyumu.
- They had previously played in the city of Kocaeli, defeating Chile 1-0 in a friendly in 2008 thanks to Halil Altıntop’s second-half goal.
- Turkey’s only win over France came in their only competitive home game of the game, winning 2-0 in the EURO qualifiers in June 2019 thanks to goals from Cengiz Under and Kaan Ayhan.
- Including friendlies, Turkey had lost one of their previous nine matches in Turkey (W7 D1), with the exception of a 6-0 loss to reigning world champions Spain in World Cup qualifying last September.
- France have won five of the seven games between these teams, who shared their only draw in their last previous meeting in 2019, scoring a goal for the EURO qualifier at the Stade de France.
- This was France’s 944th cap since 1904, amassing 481 wins, 195 draws and 268 defeats while scoring 1,712 goals and conceding 1,272.
- Mbappé is France’s ninth player with the most trophies, the same as Patrick Vieira and one behind Zidane’s total.
- Each of France’s last 10 goals have come after the 47th minute, with five scored by Mbappe and two by Ousmane Dembele, who has scored each of his own after the 65th minute.
- He had scored at least two goals in five of his previous six Nations League games away from France, failing to do so in a 2-0 defeat by Croatia in Split in March 2025, although they won the second leg 2-0 to progress to the semi-finals on penalties.
