France head coach Didier Deschamps will have to cope without Marcus Thuram when Les Bleus travel to Stadion Poljud to face Croatia in the first leg of their UEFA Nations League quarter-final tie on Thursday night.
The Inter Milan forward has withdrawn from the national team squad due to an ankle injury, and Deschamps has decided against calling up a replacement, so he is now working with a 23-man squad.
Mike Maignan appears to have established himself as the number one goalkeeper and he could be protected between the sticks by a Premier League centre-back pairing of Arsenal’s William Saliba and Ibrahima Konate.
Deschamps will weigh up whether to select Theo Hernandez or Lucas Digne at left-back, while Jules Kounde will likely get the nod to start at right-back ahead of Jonathan Clauss and Benjamin Pavard.
Adrien Rabiot scored two goals and provided an assist on his 50th international appearance for France in a 3-1 win over Italy in mid-November, and the Marseille man could line up in centre-midfield once again alongside either Aurelien Tchouameni or Eduardo Camavinga of Real Madrid.
Kylian Mbappe is back in the France squad after being omitted from the past two international breaks and the Los Blancos star could be deployed as a central striker, unless Randal Kolo Muani starts down the middle, while in-form Ousmane Dembele, Michael Olise and Desire Doue are among those who could also be handed starts in the final third.
France possible starting lineup: Maignan; Kounde, Konate, Saliba, Hernandez; Tchouameni, Rabiot; Dembele, Olise, Mbappe; Kolo Muani
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