The war of the giants ignites in France: Mbappé faces Dembélé, and Zidane in the line of fire
The repercussions of France's defeat to Italy by a scoreline of 3-1 did not stop at the limits of the result and the performance on the pitch.
Media reports have laid bare a turbulent atmosphere within the camp, with criticism raining down on Zinedine Zidane's selections, organisational problems and tension in his relationship with captain Kylian Mbappé.
Talk of a dressing-room split has only sharpened the sense of crisis. One group is said to back Mbappé, the other to rally around Ousmane Dembélé, leaving the coaching staff with a problem that stretches far beyond preparing for matches.
Cyril Hanouna, a presenter on the "W9" channel, aired these details during his Friday appearance and insists he has sources inside the French national team.
Several of Zidane's decisions, he claimed, have left players scratching their heads, above all his squad choices, which included names playing in lower divisions.
Sael Koumbedi is the only player operating in the German second division, Hanouna noted, before explaining that the grumbles go beyond selection and reach the way Zidane manages the team.
By his account, the discontent runs so deep that some players would rather let Zidane push on with his experiments until the results speak for themselves, even at the cost of another failure, in the hope he then stops chopping and changing and settles on clear choices.
The tension isn't purely technical. Dayot Upamecano's exit from the camp for stated personal reasons blindsided the coaching staff, Hanouna said, adding that the defender's departure had caught everyone off guard.
Organisational headaches have piled up too. Among them: a change to the timing of Friday's training session in Bordeaux, plus concerns over the possible axing of some staff members.
Several players, he added, voiced their frustration at the travel arrangements for their families. For Hanouna, the chaos in the camp isn't tied only to results or technical calls. It reaches the administrative side and has soured the whole mood.
Then comes the most delicate issue of all: Kylian Mbappé. Hanouna revealed tension in the striker's relationship with Zidane.
According to the presenter, the Real Madrid forward asked his coach to play the first match of the international break and then head back to his club. Zidane refused and insisted he stay with the national team until the end of the camp.
Mbappé sat out the clash with Italy but trained fully on Friday, keeping the door open for a return against Turkey on Sunday.
The row between coach and captain wasn't the end of it. Hanouna also described a dressing room split into two camps, one built around Mbappé, the other around Ousmane Dembélé.
That leaves some players in an awkward spot, he said, given how hard it is to navigate two factions within a single group.
No names were put to either group, and nobody has officially confirmed the split exists.
All of this hands Zidane a stiff test before the Turkey game. Since the defeat to Italy, the criticism has spread beyond performance and result to his selections, his relationship with France's biggest names and the administrative mess inside the camp.
Will Mbappé return? That question still dominates the conversation, just as France need to shake off the Italy defeat and rediscover their focus away from the crises filling the headlines.
