Turkey hosts France this Friday, September 25, in Matchday 1 of 6 of the UEFA Nations League. Both sides are in the same group as Italy and Belgium.
France are coming off a historic World Cup in Mexico, the United States and Canada, reaching the semi-finals before losing 2-0 to Spain. They then finished fourth after losing the third-place match 6-4 to England on July 18, with Kylian Mbappé ending the tournament as its top scorer.
Before that, Kylian Mbappé’s team defeated and eliminated Morocco 2-0 on July 9 in the quarter-finals. They also eliminated Paraguay 1-0 in the Round of 16 and Sweden 3-0 in the Round of 32.
In the group stage, they defeated France’s group rivals to top the group, beating Norway 4-1 on the final matchday, along with Iraq 3-0 and Senegal 3-1.
Türkiye, meanwhile, were eliminated in the World Cup group stage, finishing fourth in Group D. They lost 2-0 to Australia and 1-0 to Paraguay, and their only win came on the final matchday, a 3-2 victory over the United States.
Below is the latest squad status for both national teams.
Turkey vs. France: Team News & Predicted Starting Lineups
Turkey have some key absences for this match against France, including injured Hakan Çalhanoğlu and Kenan Yıldız. The team’s main star for this matchup will probably be Real Madrid midfielder Arda Güler.
France also arrive with key absences, as William Saliba is injured and Aurélien Tchouaméni’s fitness issues with Real Madrid have ruled him out of these fixtures.
Perhaps the most relevant factor for this match, in terms of possible changes, will be the modifications to the strategy Zidane wants to implement, unlike his predecessor Didier Deschamps.
Zidane has already said, for example, that he wants to see PSG talent Warren Zaïre-Emery in midfield. It is worth remembering that Zaïre-Emery has also played a lot as a right-back, as a successor to Achraf Hakimi at Luis Enrique’s PSG, but Zidane apparently prefers to see him in his natural position, and it will be very interesting to see him in this new French national team.
Another expected change is seeing Mbappé more on the left side and Ousmane Dembélé playing as a false nine.
Turkey predicted starting XI vs. France: Cakir; Celik, Demiral, Bardakci, Elmali; Ozcan, Kokcu, Yuksek; Guler, Yilmaz, Akturkoglu.
France predicted starting XI vs. Turkey: Maignan; Kounde, Upamecano, Lacroix, Truffert; Camavinga, Rabiot; Dembele, Olise, Doue; Mbappe.
Turkey vs. France Lineup Today: Confirmed Team News & Starting XI