Kylian Mbappe plays 90, leads France 1-0 win over Ireland

It was a slow Monday of games when it comes to PSG players involved in international matchups. Considering France was the only nation boasting PSG players, and that it was only one Parisian representing Les Bleus, everything was even sadder.

Of course, the one representing France was captain Kylian Mbappe, who started for the World Cup runner-ups donning the armband for the second time in as many games since getting named the leader of the squad by Didier Deschamps.

It was a rather uneventful first half with only one notable event, that being a yellow card shown to defender Benjamin Pavard. Speaking of Pavard...

Yes, that's correct. France defeated Ireland 1-0 on the road and Pavard ended up being the lone goalscorer of the game. That said, he scored the absolute banger of the matchday with a solo effort leading to a booming shot from outside the box.

Kylian Mbappe, captain of France, led his nation playing one more full game

Mbappe logged a full 90 minutes as the good captain he is, but other than that he didn't really put on any sort of remarkable or unforgettable outing.

The PSG forward led France to a victory in which he completed nearly all of the passes he attempted (50-of-53) but in which he could only attempt a couple of shots: one blocked right outside of the box and the other one wide left of the goal defended by Gavin Bazunu.

Nobody wearing the Irish kit could stop Mbappe when he attempted runs forward, though, as the Frenchman got past his tacklers with six different dribble attempts through the 90 minutes of play, also succeeding at serving a couple of long balls.

The effort was solid overall, it must be said, as Mbappe also intercepted a couple of balls while recovering four possessions for France. He didn't enter any aerial duel, but he ended up winning more than half of those he went for on the ground, with a final 7-of-12 tally in his favor.

France wraps up their first qualifying sting with a couple of wins after destroying the Netherlands 4-0 last Friday and beating Ireland on Monday, sitting pretty with six-of-six points through MD2 of the Euro 2024 qualifiers.