Kylian Mbappe: Ousmane Dembele 'essential' for France despite goalless opener

PHILADELPHIA -- After Kylian Mbappe re-watched France's 3-1 win over Senegal to open their World Cup, the 27-year-old rejected the idea that teammate Ousmane Dembele had a poor match.

"I saw the match twice, once on my own and once with people from the staff," Mbappe said through an interpreter ahead of France's next Group I match Monday against Iraq.

"In the first half, he's the best attacker out of the four. He can make the play very fluid. And then in the second half, Michael (Olise) and I were decisive, but Ousmane also contributed."

Mbappe had a second-half brace and Olise earned man of the match plaudits. But Mbappe praised Dembele's off-the-ball movement to create the attacking space he and Olise enjoyed in the second 45 minutes, in which France scored all three of their goals.

"This doesn't count in the statistics, but this is very important because otherwise we wouldn't have scored a goal," Mbappe said.

"Ousmane is very calm. He's the Ballon d'Or (winner). Everybody is on board and trusts him. He's an essential player. He's been around for years and he knows exactly how the French national squad works."

Dembele scored 33 goals in all competitions in 2024-25 to win his first Ballon d'Or and help Paris Saint-Germain win their first UEFA Champions League crown.

He's never produced goals at that level for France, where he's asked to take on a different role.

On Sunday, manager Didier Deschamps suggested that against Senegal, Dembele may have subconsciously drifted into spaces he's asked to occupy by his club.

"He is a central attacker but he can be on the right, on the left," Deschamps said through an interpreter. "He is really playing forward, playing further up in his club, which is not the case here.

"At times, we have midfielders playing a three-midfield tactic during the year, which is very different from a three-midfielder and one playing further up. Those are some adjustments that we have to make."

Mbappe begins Monday with 14 career World Cup goals, two behind Miroslav Klose and Lionel Messi for the all-time record. He passed Messi on Tuesday before Messi responded with a hat trick against Algeria later that night.

"I already knew that Leo Messi was going to score goals," Mbappe said of potentially setting a new mark. "He always does. It's more of a question for Leo.

"He's ahead of me. I'm behind. I will keep scoring to help my squad go as far as possible."

--Ian Nicholas Quillen, Field Level Media