Mbappe Started Against Spain After Ankle Knock, but France Lost 2-0

Correction: The original article was structurally incomplete and ended during a betting-market section. It also left Mbappe's availability as an open question after the France-Spain semi-final had been played. This version removes unsupported market speculation and records the subsequent fitness update, selection and match result.

What Mbappe said after the quarter-final

The original ESPN report said Kylian Mbappe described the problem sustained during France's 2-0 quarter-final win over Morocco as a knock to his ankle and said he was “all good.” The retained candidate did not include ESPN's full article body, and the live page did not expose readable text during this review, so its metadata and summary remain pending David's verification. Open the original ESPN report.

CBS Sports independently recorded Mbappe leaving in the 77th minute, receiving ice on his right ankle and then telling reporters that he had taken a knock but was fine. CBS also reported that Didier Deschamps said Mbappe had some ankle pain immediately after the match. Read the CBS Sports report.

Deschamps declared him available

Before the semi-final, Sports Illustrated reported that Deschamps described Mbappe as fully fit and ready to start against Spain. Its report also noted that Mbappe had spent part of an open training session away from the main group, while the coach said this reflected a shorter drill rather than an availability problem. Read Sports Illustrated's pre-match update.

He started, but France were eliminated

Mbappe started the semi-final on 14 July. FIFA's official match report records a 2-0 Spain win through goals from Mikel Oyarzabal and Pedro Porro and says France were limited despite Mbappe threatening on the break. Read FIFA's official match report.

The Associated Press independently reported that Mbappe had three shots and put none on target. It quoted his post-match assessment of France's failure to disrupt Spain's control, but did not report that the ankle forced him out of the game. Read the Associated Press match report.

What the evidence does and does not show

The sequence resolves the original availability question: Mbappe publicly downplayed the knock, Deschamps declared him ready, and he started the next match. The reviewed public sources do not provide a scan result or independent clinical diagnosis, so this revision does not claim that there was no injury or that he was entirely free of discomfort.

France's defeat and Mbappe's lack of shots on target cannot establish whether the ankle affected his performance. The supported conclusion is limited to what was observable and reported: he was selected to start, played against Spain and remained on eight tournament goals after the semi-final.