The forward has been wearing facial protection on the pitch since breaking his nose in France's win over Austria in their opening game of Euro 2024 and admits that he has changed the mask several times because he is unable to get comfortable in it.

Mbappe said ahead of Les Bleus' last 16 clash with Belgium on Monday (01.07.24): "It’s horrible playing with a mask. I keep changing masks because every time there is something that bothers me, there’s something that’s not quite right. It’s quite difficult playing with a mask because it limits your field of vision, your sweat clogs up and you need to let the sweat out.

"The first few days I felt like I was wearing 3D glasses and it wasn’t me who was playing. If I get to take the mask off I will, but now I don’t have a choice. I hate it. It’s really annoying. I’ve had to change it five times."

Mbappe confessed that he feared his tournament was over when he sustained the injury and he struggled to sleep in the nights following the incident.

The France captain said: "When I took the blow to the face, I didn’t really know what was going on.

"I didn’t feel that my nose was broken, it was actually when I looked at the goalkeeper and I saw his face that I thought: ‘Oh, something is wrong here.’

"However, when I got back to the dressing room and knew everything that happened around me, I thought I was going home. I looked at myself in the mirror and I thought that it was a bad idea to send me home.

"But I’m happy to be here. It was difficult because there was a lot of information, a lot of appointments, I didn’t really sleep that much – I spent two nights without sleeping – I was trying to go through all the motions, but I wasn’t able to play against the Netherlands and that was really difficult to sit on the bench … I felt quite helpless."