Mbappe tests positive for Covid-19, to miss France-Croatia match

Paris, Sep 8 (IANS) France striker Kylian Mbappe has tested positive for coronavirus and will miss Tuesday's UEFA Nations League match against Croatia, the French Football Federation (FFF) has said.The PSG forward, who is asymptomatic as reported by RMC Sports, has left the national team squad and begun his home quarantine, writes Xinhua news agency.Mbappe scored for Les Bleus in their 1-0 win over Sweden last Saturday, but will now be absent for Tuesday's clash against Croatia at Stade de France, which is a rematch of the 2018 FIFA World Cup final.Mbappe is the seventh PSG player to test positive for Covid-19. The Ligue 1 champions last week reported six confirmed cases, whom French media L'Equipe said are Neymar, Mauro Icardi, Marquinhos, Angel Di Maria, Leandro Paredes and Keylor Navas. All six had holidayed on the Spanish island of Ibiza after the Champions League final against Bayern Munich on August 23.Mbappe, like the other six, will also be missing PSG's opening two 2020/21 Ligue 1 games against Lens on Thursday and Marseille three days later.PSG's sporting director Leonardo has hit out at the FFF for the manner in which he discovered that Mbappe had tested positive.The Brazilian claimed that no one had informed PSG of their player having contracted Covid-19."I find it completely unacceptable that we learn from the press that one of our players is positive," he said to RMC, "They released a statement and sent the player home but no one from the Federation has communicated this to us. No one has contacted us."
--IANS aak/