Real Madrid star Kylian Mbappé’s unhappy return to Paris and the Parc des Princes

New Real Madrid attacker Kylian Mbappé left PSG under something of a cloud and had an unhappy return to the Parc des Princes in Paris as France were beaten by Italy in the UEFA Nations League.

Things couldn’t possibly have started any better for Didier Deschamps’ team, who incredibly took the lead after 13 seconds as Bradley Barcola robbed Giovanni Di Lorenzo inside the Italy half and raced through unchallenged to score.

Even in that blistering opening for Les Bleus, there was perhaps a minor element of disappointment for Mbappé, with Barcola backing himself to beat Gianluigi Donnarumma in a one-on-one, rather than pass to his captain, who he could have rolled the ball to for a tap-in.

France threatened to run riot in the opening 10 minutes, but Italy settled into the game thereafter and deservedly turned the game around to secure their first win in Paris in 70 years.

Few boos, but Mbappé kept quiet by Italy

And Luciano Spalletti’s team managed to keep Mbappé incredibly quiet in doing so, with the Real Madrid forward causing them few problems in his 96 minutes on the field.

The 25-year-old had 65 touches of the ball, more than any of France’s other attacking players, although Antoine Griezmann and Michael Olise were replaced in the second period. But only two of them were efforts on goal, the best of which was a low left-footed effort from inside the box which drew an early save from Donnarumma.

Like France, Mbappé faded after a bright start and he has now scored only four goals in his last 13 appearances for club and country, one of the worst runs of his professional career.

Perhaps the sole positive was that home fans by and large gave their backing to their captain, with many fearing that he would be roundly booed by the Paris Saint-Germain fans in attendance at the Parc des Princes.