Mbappe lifts France past Türkiye 1-0 in Zidane’s winning debut

Kylian Mbappe scored the decisive goal as Türkiye suffered a 1-0 defeat to France in their UEFA Nations League League A opener in Kocaeli on Friday, handing Zinedine Zidane victory in his first match in charge of Les Bleus.

France captain Mbappe broke the deadlock in the 54th minute, finishing a move created by Michael Olise, but injured his left knee while taking the shot and was forced off just five minutes later.

Türkiye, coached by Vincenzo Montella, pushed for an equalizer but finished the match with 10 men after goalkeeper Uğurcan Çakır was shown a straight red card in the closing stages.

After a goalless first half, Türkiye came close to opening the scoring five minutes after the restart.

Arda Güler delivered a corner from the left and İsmail Yüksek directed a header toward goal, but France goalkeeper Mike Maignan reacted sharply to tip the bouncing effort behind.

France struck four minutes later.

Olise threaded a pass into the left side of the penalty area, where Mbappe drove a powerful shot past Uğurcan to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.

The goal continued the prolific international form of Mbappe, France’s all-time leading scorer, but the forward appeared to hurt his left knee while shooting. He was replaced by Desire Doue in the 59th minute.

Türkiye continued searching for a way back into the contest.

Arda again threatened in the 75th minute after Can Uzun’s pressure forced France into a defensive mistake. The Real Madrid midfielder collected the loose ball and fired toward the near post from a tight angle, only for Maignan to make another fingertip save.

Türkiye’s hopes suffered a further blow late in the match.

Following a VAR recommendation, referee Felix Zwayer reviewed an incident involving Uğurcan and Bradley Barcola. The goalkeeper was judged to have handled the ball outside his penalty area and was shown a straight red card in the 87th minute.

With Türkiye having already used its available substitutions, forward Barış Alper Yılmaz made way for goalkeeper Altay Bayındır.

France held on through the closing minutes to secure all three points and give Zidane a winning start to his tenure.

The former France captain, who helped Les Bleus win the 1998 World Cup, was appointed in July to succeed Didier Deschamps and signed a contract running through 2030.

For Türkiye, the narrow home defeat marked a frustrating start to their League A campaign despite creating opportunities against the former world champions.

DAILYSABAH