Kylian Mbappe gave France another scare during their Euro 2024 quarter-final clash with Portugal after he hit the turf clutching his face again and needed attention from medics.
The forward suffered a broken nose during France's opening game against Austria and has had to wear a protective face mask to help avoid any further injury.
But the effects of mask do not stretch as far as preventing pain from being hit directly in the face by the ball, it would seem, as Mbappe found out first-hand when defending his own box against the Portuguese.
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Kylian Mbappe left clutching face after being hit in face again
The latest incident, which occurred in the 55th minute of the quarter-final encounter in Hamburg, was thankfully more minor than his collision against Austria, but evidently hurt a lot.
Mbappe closed down Bernardo Silva as he rose to win a header off a cross from the left, and succeeded in blocking his header, but took it full in the face from very short range and crumpled to the turf in agony before removing his mask.
Medical staff came on to check him out after referee Michael Oliver stopped play following an unsuccessful France counter-attack, with Mbappe getting back to his feet after around a minute and putting his mask back on to continue the game.
As sympathetic as we all famously are at FourFourTwo, it is hard not to find a little bit of amusement in seeing someone repeatedly befall the same injury again and again.
Mbappe can at least count himself lucky not to be cricketer Liam Livingstone, who was hit in the testicles three times in one night while playing in the Australian Big Bash League in 2020.
The Frenchman has spoken out about how much he hates playing in his mask, saying his peripheral vision has been marginally affected and that it can become very uncomfortable as sweat builds up during games.
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