DORTMUND, Germany — Kylian Mbappé, wearing a mask to protect his broken nose, marked his return at the European Championship with a goal against Poland.
It wasn’t enough for a victory on Tuesday, though, and it’s not enough to solve France’s growing problems at Euro 2024.
Mbappé removed his protective mask to celebrate in front of his team’s fans after converting a 56th-minute penalty. But Robert Lewandowski earned the 1-1 draw with a 79th-minute spot kick that he got to take twice, leaving the French as the runners-up to Austria in Group D and dropping them into the same half of the draw with defending champion Portugal, host nation Germany and Spain — three of the continent’s heavyweight nations.
Austria beat the Netherlands 3-2 in a match played at the same time.
The result also means France has yet to score an open-play goal at Euro 2024, having beaten Austria 1-0 on an own-goal and then drawn 0-0 with the Dutch — when Mbappé was missing after breaking his nose against the Austrians.
Les Bleus have advanced, sure, but they haven’t been convincing.
“Obviously we wanted first place, but for that, we had to win,” France coach Didier Deschamps said. “We did what we had to do by creating chances to win. We could have done better in terms of efficiency.”
Mbappé returned to the starting lineup against last-place Poland, which was already eliminated before the match began, and was clearly impaired by wearing a black mask that limits his peripheral vision.
He largely kept away from overly physical challenges and didn’t compete for the ball in the air. He was often seen hanging back at the edge of the area, waiting for the ball to come to him.
Still, Mbappé remained France’s most dangerous attacker and finally got his first goal in six matches at the tournament — taking in four at Euro 2020 and two at Euro 2024 — after Ousmane Dembele was tripped in the area. It was the Real Madrid-bound striker’s 48th goal for France.
Mbappé played the full game, starting as a central striker before ending up on the left wing, in another underwhelming display from France — a two-time European champion and the World Cup runner-up in 2022.
A match against the runner-up in Group E, which could be Belgium, Romania, Slovakia or Ukraine, awaits in the last 16 on July 1.
Then it gets a whole lot harder for the French.
At least they got through, which cannot be said for Poland.
Making likely his last appearance at a European Championship, the 36-year-old Lewandowski departed with a goal — even if he needed two attempts to get past goalkeeper Mike Maignan with his stutter-step run-up.Maignan saved the first kick but was adjudged to have come off his line before making the save.
Lewandowski had another opportunity, performed the same routine, and this time found the bottom corner for his 83rd international goal, even with Maignan diving the right way.
The same thing happened to Lewandowski against France at the World Cup, when Hugo Lloris was goalkeeper. Again, Lewandowski scored on the second attempt after Lloris encroached.
Austria beats Netherlands 3-2 to reach knockout stage of Euro 2024 as group winner ahead of FranceBy CIARÁN FAHEY AP Sports WriterBERLIN (AP) — Marcel Sabitzer scored late for Austria to advance to the knockout stage of the European Championship as group winner with a 3-2 victory over the Netherlands. Austria topped Group D thanks to France drawing with Poland 1-1 in the other game. The Austrians had needed a point to be sure of advancing and got off to a great start with Dutch forward Donyell Malen scoring an own goal in the sixth minute. Cody Gapko equalized two minutes after the break, but Romano Schmid headed Austria back in front in the 59th. Memphis Depay equalized in the 75th. But Sabitzer restored Austria’s lead two minutes later.
Austria 3, Netherlands 2
Marcel Sabitzer scored late for Austria to advance to the knockout stage of the European Championship as group winner with a victory over the Netherlands on Tuesday in Berlin.
Austria topped Group D thanks to France drawing with Poland 1-1 in the other game. Both France and the Netherlands were already assured of progress thanks to results in other games.
“Group winner, group winner!” the Austrian fans chanted in the warm evening sunshine as they streamed out of Berlin’s Olympiastadion. Their Dutch counterparts, thousands of them dressed in vibrant orange, must now wait for the other groups to conclude to see which team awaits them in the next round.
Austria will play the second-place finisher in Group F — Turkey, Georgia or the Czech Republic — in Leipzig on Tuesday.
“If you beat the Netherlands and finish first in the group, then you can’t be so bad,” said Sabitzer, who plays in Germany for Borussia Dortmund. “The top priority for us was to progress and we managed that. Now we need to bring it down a bit, get the heads clear, and then we’ll attack again.”
The Austrians had needed a point to be sure of advancing and got off to a great start with Dutch forward Donyell Malen scoring an own goal in the sixth minute.
First-half substitute Xavi Simons set up Cody Gapko to equalize two minutes after the break, but Romano Schmid headed Austria back in front in the 59th.
Memphis Depay equalized with a brilliant finish in the 75th, though he had to endure a VAR check as referee Ivan Kruzliak felt he handled the ball. The check found Depay hadn’t.
But Sabitzer restored Austria’s lead two minutes later with a fierce strike from a difficult angle.
It proved to be the winner despite a frenetic finale with chances at both ends.
Austria snapped a seven-game losing run against the Netherlands, including a group-stage defeat in the last edition of the tournament.
It was exactly 36 years to the day since the Netherlands won Euro ’88 in Munich.
Netherlands coach Ronald Koeman, who played on that championship team in 1988, made three changes Tuesday to the team that drew against France. He had criticized Simons for not pressing enough in that match and subsequently dropped the young player in favor of Joey Veerman in midfield. Lutsharel Geertruida started for Denzel Dumfries at right-back, and Malen started in place of Jeremie Frimpong, who plays as a wing back for Bayer Leverkusen.
But Koeman’s team made a lethargic start in contrast to the busy Austrians, who scored when Malen turned Alexander Prass’ cross inside the left post.
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Tijjani Reijnders and Malen both missed good chances to equalize. Koeman berated his charges and told his substitutes to warm up. He sent Simons on for Veerman in the 35th.
Simons’ entrance gave the Dutch more urgency. Depay saw a header cleared off the line before the break, and Simons set up Gapko after Florian Grillitsch lost the ball in midfield.
Koeman’s side maintained its pressure and looked more likely to score until Grillitsch crossed for Schmid to head Austria back in front with his first international goal. Ultimately, the Austrians were more clinical.
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