Lizarazu says France can fill the gap left by Mbappé

In the French national team’s dressing room, the echo of Kylian Mbappé’s departure is felt, as teammates adjust their positions. The top scorer and top assister in the history of the Bleus is injured, and the debate ignites around the team’s ability to fill this void.

Kylian Mbappé holds both the goal‑scoring record and the assist record for the national team. His absence could give the impression of an unfillable void in the French attack. Bixente Lizarazu, however, challenges this reasoning, arguing that Zinédine Zidane has enough solutions to build a high‑performing team without his captain.

“Mbappé’s absence can be perfectly compensated,” Lizarazu states in his column. He acknowledges that the Madrid player’s injury is bad news, but he expects France to demonstrate its ability to win without him.

Tactical alternatives at work

Zidane is already working on a plan B, or even a plan C. He can rely on Ousmane Dembélé, Désiré Doué, Bradley Barcola, Michael Olise or Rayan Cherki.

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Several of these players have played at PSG under Luis Enrique, where they adopted coordinated pressing and counter‑pressing. These automatisms, developed daily at club level, could be exploited by the Bleus in the upcoming matches.

The complementarity between Doué, Dembélé, Barcola and Olise would give Zidane an attack less dependent on a single player. The changes planned against Belgium constitute the first test of this new setup.

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Thus, the captain’s absence is not merely a like‑for‑like replacement, but could push the Bleus to assert a renewed identity. If the team manages to exploit these alternatives, it will show that the collective can prevail without its star player.