Mbappe under fire for skipping France duty while fit to play for Real

PARIS, Oct 07 (Reuters): France captain Kylian Mbappe is facing criticism in his home country for skipping Les Bleus' Nations League games against Israel and Belgium while being available to play for Real Madrid.

The forward picked up a muscle injury last month but made his return to the pitch in the Champions League last Wednesday.

France coach Didier Deschamps left Mbappe out of the squad he announced on Thursday, saying the 25-year-old lacked preparation, having played too few matches.

Mbappe started Real's La Liga game against Villarreal on Saturday.

"Either you're injured, and you don't play with your club and you're not called up in the national team," former France international Maxime Bossis told French sports daily L'Equipe on Monday.

"But when you come off the bench in the Champions League and you start a league game, it makes things fuzzy. He's a special player. We've known that with Michel Platini, when we still wanted him with us when he was injured."

Mbappe's situation is more complicated because the former Paris St Germain player is the national team captain after being handed the armband ahead of Antoine Griezmann, who last week announced his retirement from international football.