France striker Kylian Mbappé did not attend the joint training session in Doha on Tuesday night, four days before Saturday’s World Cup quarterfinal match against England, and the striker advocated building work, an AFP journalist noted.
The 23-year-old world champion is “working in the recovery room,” the Blues leadership said, citing a “classic” situation two days after the last game.
Mbappé took part in the entire round of 16 in Sunday’s 3-1 win over Poland, spending around 100 minutes of the game in which he scored two goals.
All the other incumbents took part in a light scrub at the Jassim bin Hamad Stadium on Tuesday night before leaving the substitutes to compete on a reduced field with Steve Mandanda and Alphonse Areola in the cages.
Hugo Lloris, Jules Koundé, Adrien Rabiot, Antoine Griezmann and Aurélien Tchouaméni, the only Frenchman to appear in all the first four games of the World Cup, sat on floor mats in front of this opponent.
On Monday, the players of the French team benefited from a full day of rest. They meet England in Al-Khor on Saturday (8 p.m.).