“It’s quite annoying, can slow down a player” - Lewandowski warns Kylian Mbappe about wearing mask ahead of France vs Poland at Euro 2024
Poland's ace striker Robert Lewandowski has warned his French counterpart Kylian Mbappe on the struggles of playing with a mask, ahead of their crunch encounter in Dortmund on Tuesday (June 25). Les Bleus have already confirmed their place in the Round of 16 after collecting four points from two group fixtures. A victory over Poland, however, is imperative to usurp the Netherlands from top spot in Group D.
In a massive boost for France, Mbappe is likely to start for Didier Deschamps' side at the Signal Iduna Park after being an unused substitute in their stalemate with the Dutch last week.
The 25-year-old had sustained a bruise to his nose during their Euro opener against Austria, causing him to bleed profusely. As a precaution, Deschamps rested Mbappe on matchday two of the group stage.
But much to the French supporters' delight, he could return to the XI, but with a face mask to protect his broken nose. Lewandowski, who played with a mask on towards the end of 2014-15 season with Bayern Munich, warned Mbappe of the challenges he could face.
He was quoted as saying by GOAL:
“When I had to wear a mask myself, it wasn't nice. It's quite annoying, especially in the penalty area, I had problems, I didn't react, I couldn't see, my field of vision was hampered... It's a few milliseconds but it can slow down a player.
"It's a challenge, it's not pleasant, but of course a player's health is more important. For a competition, emotions are very high and everyone wants to play at all costs. I understand the difficulties he faces.”
France and Poland meet for the first time since their last-16 clash at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Mbappe and Lewandowski aiming to bag their first goal at UEFA Euro 2024
As France take on Poland tonight, all eyes will be on their star attackers, Kylian Mbappe and Robert Lewandowski. Neither have scored a goal at the German showpiece so far, and will be aiming to break the duck in Dortmund.
Speaking of Mbappe, he drew a blank against Austria in a match that left him with a bloody nose before sitting out of their clash with the Netherlands. For Lewandowski, however, this presents his last chance to score as Poland have already been knocked out of the championship following back-to-back defeats to Oranje and Das Team.
Interestingly, the last time these two sides met, which was in December 2022 at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, both Mbappe and Lewandowski were on target for their respective sides. The former netted a second-half brace, before his Polish counterpart scored a penalty in stoppage-time as France won 3-1 in the last-16 round.