The China Mail - Mbappe and Konate out of France's World Cup qualifier in Iceland

Already suffering from a "small niggle" in his right ankle from playing for Real Madrid, Mbappe took two knocks during Friday's 3-0 World Cup qualifying win over Azerbaijan in Paris, where he opened the scoring but was substituted before the end of the match.

Liverpool defender Konate remained on the bench with a right thigh problem with his place against Iceland now taken by Marseille's Benjamin Pavard.

Mbappe's absence adds to the long list of forwards unavailable for October's World Cup qualifiers, which includes Ousmane Dembele, Desire Doue, Marcus Thuram and Bradley Barcola.

After returning to the Clairefontaine training ground on Friday night, "the French team captain spoke with (coach) Didier Deschamps who acknowledged his absence", the French federation (FFF) said in a statement.

Mbappe "has been released to his club (Real Madrid) and will not be replaced", the FFF added, confirming hours later that Konate "has returned to his club's availability".

Konate had joined the team with a slight injury and "underwent treatment and a specific protocol but will not be able to play Monday in Reykjavik", the FFF said.

Mbappe scored on the stroke of half-time against Azerbaijan and was then struck by a tackle from Rustam Ahmedzade. He took another knock to the same ankle late in the game, and was replaced by Florian Thauvin.

"He has a sore ankle and he took a knock there. He preferred to come off; the pain was quite significant," Deschamps said after the French victory.

Adrien Rabiot and the substitute Thauvin were also on the scoresheet as Deschamps's team remain unbeaten after three games and top of Group D.

Les Bleus will book their passage to the United States, Canada and Mexico next year if they win in Iceland on Monday and Ukraine fail to beat Azerbaijan.

B.Chan--ThChM