France's coach, Didier Deschamps, made it clear that Kylian Mbappé “does what he wants” in his private life, adding to the ongoing drama surrounding the Real Madrid forward's absence from the national team.

Mbappé’s no-show, paired with him being spotted out late in Stockholm last Thursday while France was playing Israel, became the hot topic once again at Deschamps’ press conference. This time, it was ahead of France's Nations League group match against Belgium in Brussels.

“In his private life, he does what he wants,” Deschamps said, visibly annoyed that his captain’s absence was overshadowing everything else, like the team’s performance or the form of the players actually called up. 

“I’m not just defending him for the sake of it. The issue is that his private life isn’t private. That’s not the case for you guys, and you're fine with that,” he sarcastically told the reporters.

Looking ahead to the clash with the 'Red Devils,' the French coach pointed out that, despite the absence of stars like Kevin de Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku, they’ll still face “a very motivated Belgian team.” Aurélien Tchouaméni, who also spoke on Sunday as he’ll be captain for the second consecutive game, once again had to come to Mbappé’s defense after more questions from the press.

“I think too much is being made of this... Every time it’s about Kylian, it gets blown out of proportion,” said his Real Madrid teammate, adding, “We don’t need to prove Mbappé’s love for the French national team.” Tchouaméni admitted that the Nations League “isn’t the tournament of the century.” “Let’s not kid ourselves,” he said, but as a player, “when you put on the jersey, you do everything to win.”