Kylian Mbappe was injured after colliding with Kevin Danso. AFP/VNA Photo

By Thanh Nga

DUESSELDORF, Germany — France's star striker, Kylian Mbappe, suffered a broken nose, after colliding with Austrian Kevin Danso in France's 1-0 win over Austria in their opening Group D match at Euro 2024, early Tuesday morning (Hà Nội time).

Mbappe was injured after trying to head the ball at the end of the match, hitting the shoulder of midfielder Danso. The collision left the French striker lying on the field holding his bloody nose for several minutes, before leaving under the care of doctors. Because he then tried to return to the field without the referee's permission, he also received a rare yellow card.

Coach Didier Deschamps was then forced to substitute Mbappe, the key goalscorer and replace him with veteran Olivier Giroud.

Mbappe was injured after trying to head the ball at the end of the match, but hit his face on the shoulder of midfielder Danso.

After the match, Deschamps confirmed that Mbappe had likely broken his nose and will probably have to wear a protective mask for the remaining Euro 2024 matches.

Despite Mbappe's injury, France began their Euro 2024 campaign with a narrow 1-0 win. The decisive goal came from an unexpected source - an own goal by Austria's Maximilian Woeber, who diverted Mbappe's cutback into his own net seven minutes before half-time.

Slovakian coach Francesco Calzona (left) is all smiles after his side's win against Belgium. AFP/VNA Photo

Slovakia's shock 1-0 win over Belgium

In another surprise result, Slovakia defeated Belgium 1-0 in their Group F match. Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku had several chances to score, but was denied multiple times, including two goals ruled out by VAR.

Just five minutes into the match, both Lukaku and Leandro Trossard missed opportunities to put Belgium ahead and just before half-time, Lukaku again failed to beat the Slovakian goalkeeper.

In the second half, the striker thought he had scored, but the goal was disallowed by VAR for being offside. Later, yet another Lukaku goal was ruled out due to a handball by a teammate in the buildup.

The winning goal for Slovakia came in the seventh minute, when a turnover by Belgium's Jeremy Baffour Doku led to Ivan Schranz scoring from close range. They managed to hold onto their slim lead until the final whistle, inflicting Belgium's first loss to Slovakia in their head-to-head history.

The defeat will doubtless force Belgium to reevaluate their approach and attacking strategy if they want to avoid an early exit from Euro 2024.

Romania fans were happy with the win against Ukraine. AFP/VNA Photo

Romania 3 – 0 Ukraine

In a surprising result in Group E, Romania defeated Ukraine 3-0.

Ukraine had fielded a strong lineup of stars across the pitch including goalkeeper Andriy Lunin, defender Oleksandr Zinchenko, midfielder Mykhailo Mudryk and striker Artem Dovbyk, but failed to create many chances in the opening 20 minutes, while Romania put up a robust defence.

In the 29th minute, a poor pass from the Ukrainian goalkeeper was intercepted by Romania's Nicolae Stanciu, who scored the opening goal. Ukraine's performance then deteriorated and Romania added two more goals in the second half to secure a comfortable 3-0 victory.

The loss seemed to almost completely destroy Ukraine's fighting spirit, as they managed only a few weak efforts in the final minutes. The result was a major upset, with the lower ranked Romania team comprehensively outperforming the heavily favoured Ukrainians. VNS