PARIS, September 7 (Xinhua) – French striker Kylian Mbappe has tested positive for COVID-19 and will miss Tuesday’s UEFA Nations League match against Croatia, the French Football Federation (FFF) said on Monday.
The PSG striker, who is asymptomatic according to RMC Sports, has left the national team and started his home quarantine.
Mbappe scored for Les Bleus in his 1-0 victory against Sweden on Saturday, but will now be absent for Tuesday’s clash against Croatia at the Stade de France, which is a replay of the FIFA World Cup 2018 final.
Mbappe is the seventh PSG player to test positive for COVID-19. The Ligue 1 champions last week reported six confirmed cases, which the French media L’Equipe said are Neymar, Mauro Icardi, Marquinhos, Angel Di Maria, Leandro Paredes and Keylor Navas. All six had a holiday on the Spanish island of Ibiza after the Champions League final against Bayern Munich on 23 August.
Mbappe, like the other six, will also miss PSG’s opening two 2020/21 Ligue 1 matches against Lens on Thursday and Marseille three days later.
PSG’s sports director Leonardo has beaten FFF for the way in which he discovered that Mbappe had tested positive.
The Brazilian claimed that no one had informed PSG that their players had contracted COVID-19.
“I think it is completely unacceptable that we learn from the press that one of our players is positive,” he told RMC. “They released a statement and sent the player home but no one from the federation has communicated this to us. No one has contacted U.S. ”