French captain Mbappé on the bench against Belgium in Nations League

French captain Mbappé on the bench against Belgium in Nations League

LYON, France (AP) — France captain Kylian Mbappe was left out of the starting lineup for Monday’s match against Belgium in the UEFA Nations League.

Mbappé played the entire match in a 3-1 loss against Italy in Paris on Friday and coach Didier Deschamps changed the entire attacking line to face Belgium in Lyon, replacing Mbappé with Marcus Thuram in a central role.

Europe’s top national teams have been rotating and resting their star players this week, having had little preparation for the new season in August after the European Championships.

Euro 2024 winners Spain played only the first half of 17-year-old winger Lamine Yamal in a 4-1 win over Switzerland on Sunday. Spain captain Rodri played his first competitive minutes of the season in Geneva after being rested by Manchester City in all three English Premier League games so far.

Christian Ronaldo did not start came on as a substitute for Portugal on Sunday, came on in the second half and scored the winning goal against Scotland in Lisbon.

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