Ankle injury rules Lepaul out of France's next international break

Estéban Lepaul will not join the France squad next week. The Stade Rennais striker, who suffered an ankle sprain on October 18 during the match against Paris FC, has still not returned to full training and will not be fit in time for Friday’s squad gathering.

Lepaul had made his France debut under Zinédine Zidane just a month ago. Since his injury, he has already missed four matches with Rennes: against Juventus, RC Strasbourg, OGC Nice, and now the Ligue Europa match against Olympiakos this Thursday. According to Ouest-France, he is also unlikely to be available for the Ligue 1 clash against Lille on Sunday, making his absence from the national team unavoidable.

Zidane will unveil his second squad on Friday evening for the two Nations League matches: against Italy on November 12 in Milan, then against Turkey on November 15 in Bordeaux. Marcus Thuram could receive a call-up as Lepaul’s replacement, especially as Ousmane Dembélé is also unavailable due to a muscle injury. The French internationals will gather on Monday at Clairefontaine.

At Rennes, coach Franck Haise is managing without his leading striker by starting Boulaye Dia and Mousa Al-Tamari in attack for the home match against Olympiakos. Brice Samba returns in goal. Abdelhamid Ait Boudlal and Valentin Rongier, both uncertain, start on the bench. Gonçalo Oliveira, the young Portuguese defender signed from Benfica last summer, makes his debut in a Rennes shirt.