Kylian Mbappe Scores As France Draw Austria

Kylian Mbappe bagged a late equalizer for France to secure a 1-1 draw against Austria.

Mbappe appeared as a second-half replacement for Antoine Griezmann at the Ernst-Happel Stadium and burst through in characteristic fashion to smash in the 83rd-minute leveller, cancelling out Andreas Weimann’s opener.

The result leaves France, who won last year’s edition of the Nations League, still without a win three games into the new campaign.

They are bottom of League A, Group 1 with two points after losing 2-1 at home to Denmark last weekend and then drawing 1-1 in Croatia on Monday.

“We didn’t win, we’ll take this point and try to win on Monday,” Mbappe said. “You should never be anxious, you should just try to improve.”

Mbappe, who has recovered from a blow to his knee, latched onto a pass from fellow substitute Christopher Nkunku to sprint clear and curl a left-footed shot into the top corner in the 83rd minute for his 27th international goal at the age of just 23.

Four minutes later, Mbappe hit the crossbar after combining with Karim Benzema and Nkunku. France finished strongly with midfielder Matteo Guendouzi having an injury-time effort saved by goalkeeper Patrick Pentz.

“We had so many chances in the second half. We had the control of the game but we weren’t efficient enough,” coach Didier Deschamps said. “These aren’t the results we expected. But obviously we’re not in our best form.”