İZMİT, Turkey – Zinedine Zidane commenced his tenure as manager of the French national team with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Turkey in their UEFA Nations League opener at the Turka Araç Muayene Kocaeli Stadyumu on Friday evening, though the triumph was overshadowed by an immediate injury scare involving captain Kylian Mbappé, international sports correspondents monitored in İzmit on Friday, September 25, 2026.
The Real Madrid forward settled a physical and tightly contested encounter nine minutes after the interval, collecting an incisive diagonal delivery from Bayern Munich winger Michael Olise inside the penalty area before drilling a low, angled finish into the bottom corner.
Okay News reports that Mbappé grimaced in sharp discomfort as the shot crossed the goal line, clutching his hamstring before signaling to the technical area and being replaced moments later by Paris Saint-Germain prodigy Désiré Doué.
The injury development creates an immediate headache for Real Madrid manager José Mourinho, whose side trails La Liga leaders Barcelona by six points following last weekend’s derby defeat to Atlético Madrid, with the Spanish giants facing a demanding domestic schedule when European league play resumes next month.
Zidane, taking charge of his first competitive fixture since succeeding Didier Deschamps following the 2026 FIFA World Cup, introduced four changes to the lineup that contested the tournament in North America, handing starts to Adrien Truffert, Jules Koundé, Manu Koné, and Ousmane Dembélé.
France dominated early possession but required an acrobatic intervention from goalkeeper Mike Maignan five minutes into the second half to tip a powerful header from Turkish midfielder İsmail Yüksek over the crossbar, answering a similar first-half stop at the opposite end by Uğurcan Çakır to deny Olise.
Turkey, managed by Vincenzo Montella, battled tenaciously following their recent promotion to League A, pressing aggressively through Arda Güler and Barış Alper Yılmaz despite missing several first-team regulars through suspension and fatigue.
The hosts’ hopes of engineering a late comeback were extinguished three minutes from time when Çakır was shown a straight red card after a Video Assistant Referee review determined that the Trabzonspor shot-stopper deliberately handled the ball outside the penalty box to prevent substitute Bradley Barcola from racing through on an open goal.
The solitary strike takes Mbappé to 108 senior caps for *Les Bleus*, moving him level with Patrick Vieira as the joint-ninth most-capped player in French international football history, just one appearance shy of Zidane’s career tally of 108 international caps.
The victory extends France’s superior head-to-head record against Turkey to five wins from seven historical meetings, while marking the 481st victory in the national team’s 122-year competitive history.
Both nations return to competitive action on Monday, September 28, with Turkey traveling to Rome to face Italy, while Zidane’s side heads to Brussels for a Group A blockbuster against Belgium, with French medical staff set to subject Mbappé to comprehensive scans over the weekend to determine the full extent of his muscular injury.
