Kylian Mbappé, the French forward, admitted in a press conference that after fracturing his nose during his first Euro match, he thought he’d have to leave the tournament due to an injury that he now manages to play with thanks to a mask he says he hates.

On the eve of facing Belgium, Mbappé, who missed the game against the Netherlands after getting injured and returned to play against Poland, confirmed he’ll be in the next match.

"When I got hit, I didn't even feel my nose break, but I could tell something was wrong. In the locker room, I feared my Euro was over. I thought I was going home. It was tough; I didn’t sleep for two days," he commented.

"It's horrible playing with a mask. I keep changing masks because every time something bothers me or isn’t quite right, I try to switch it. It limits vision, and then there's the sweat; it has to come out. But I can’t play without the mask. I hate it, it's so annoying. I've changed it five times already," he added.

He also described how it feels to play with a broken nose without having surgery. For Mbappé, the sensations are "different" from playing without such an injury, and he had words for Robert Lewandowski, with whom he got angry during the match against Poland because Lewandowski accidentally hit him in the injured area.

"I don’t think he hit me in the nose on purpose the other day. Honestly, I knew what I was getting into when I decided not to have surgery. It's a new situation, and this can cause hits and persistent pain. I’ll try my best to take France to the top. The nose isn't the most important thing," he stated.

When asked why France isn’t scoring goals, he replied simply: "We have chances, but we don’t finish them. Now, the most important thing, in my experience, is that scoring goals must be on everyone’s mind. The most important thing is to create chances, but of course, we have to convert them. That’s been an issue in the group stage. Now, a new competition begins. It’s sudden death, direct elimination. We have to score the chances we get," he pointed out.

He also spoke about the underwhelming performance of some major teams in the group stage and declared he hopes France will improve and rise, making it clear they don’t need to find excuses.

"We’re a good team, and tomorrow we face a great team. There are no doubts in the locker room. We know we didn't finish first, and everyone is ready for tomorrow. It’s a knockout match. If you don’t win, you go home, and we don’t want vacations yet. We’re prepared, we know what we’re facing tomorrow. We have a team and a staff capable of meeting the challenge," he concluded.