An emergency or a technical exclusion? France star leaves the camp after the defeat to Italy
Dayot Upamecano, the France defender, has left the camp of Les Bleus following the 3-1 defeat to Italy yesterday, Thursday evening, in the UEFA Nations League.
According to the network "RMC Sport", the 28-year-old won the approval of coach Zinedine Zidane to leave the national team camp for personal reasons and return to Munich, where he plays for Bayern.
The French Football Federation have named no replacement for Upamecano during the current window, with France set to face Turkey on Sunday in the final round of the UEFA Nations League group stage.
France suffered their first defeat of this Nations League campaign at the hands of Italy, going down 3-1 at the San Siro. The result dropped Les Bleus to second in Group One of the first path on 10 points, while the Azzurri climbed top on head-to-head results.
Upamecano's struggles against Italy raise questions
Upamecano started against Italy at right centre-back alongside Jérémy Jacquet and played the full 90 minutes.
Trouble soon followed. The Bayern defender conceded a penalty from which Pio Esposito stretched the hosts' lead in the 75th minute.
He also struggled throughout, whether in individual duels or trying to build play from the back.
Those errors raise the prospect that Upamecano was dropped from the camp for technical reasons too.
His departure adds to a long list of absentees who have hit the French ranks during this window, including Ousmane Dembélé, Magnes Akliouche, Pierre Kalulu and Marcus Thuram.
Kylian Mbappé also sat out the Italy match through physical discomfort, though the France captain is expected to return against Turkey.
Zidane said after the Italy defeat: "I hope he will be ready for Sunday's match. In any case, this was the plan, that he gets rest today because he suffered a slight discomfort, and then he has the possibility to play on Sunday. This is what we want."
Two options to replace Upamecano
Zidane has two options to replace Upamecano against Turkey. Ibrahima Konaté and Lény Yoro, the other defenders in the 23-man squad, sit alongside Jacquet.
Since taking charge of France, Zidane picked Upamecano to start the first match against Turkey, a 1-0 win, before leaving him on the bench for the following match against Belgium, which finished by the same scoreline.
The Bayern defender returned to the starting line-up against Italy in a 1-1 draw, but two yellow cards saw him sent off, ruling him out of the following match against Belgium through suspension.
Upamecano has won 49 caps for France and scored twice.
