Austria v France: Back Mbappe to fire French to victory | OneFootball

In Stuttgart yesterday, Slovenia held Denmark to a 1-1 draw to give us an odds-against BTTS winner.

We've come to Dusseldorf today for the game between Group D favourites France and Ralf Rangnick's Austria, who are expected to battle Poland for third place in the group.

Didier Deschamps' France have been largely excellent in major tournaments, and they have won their last five opening matches at them.

Austria, in contrast, are an intriguing but unproven prospect. They qualified for Germany impressively, but Rangnick's squad is hardly loaded with stars. Versatile Real Madrid veteran David Alaba could be a big miss for them at the back, and they are also without their first-choice keeper for this tournament. At the other end of the pitch, strikers Marko Arnautovic and Michael Gregoritsch scored a combined 12 goals from 59 league appearances for their clubs this season.

France are comfortably odds-on to win, which feels right, so we prefer to focus on the identity of who might fire them to victory. One candidate stands apart from all others...

Since his hat-trick in the World Cup final 18 months ago, Kylian Mbappe has netted in 7/11 starts for his country. At that tournament in Qatar, he found the back of the net in 4/7 appearances. Both fractions suggest he could be a bit shorter than evens to score today.

With his Real Madrid move now sealed, France's golden boy shouldn't be short on personal motivation either: he failed to score at Euro 2020 and that stat will be thrown around until he breaks his duck in Germany. In 2022, he scored in both of France's Nations League meetings with Austria and we're ready to back him to make it 3/3 tonight.

France, who were a collective disappointment four years ago, look as reliant on Mbappe for goals as ever. There is quality throughout the ranks, though upfront might be where Les Bleus are weakest. Olivier Giroud, now 37, is still the foil to Mbappe, with Marcus Thuram a talented alternative who has scored only twice in 20 international appearances.

If Les Bleus are to make a winning start to another major tournament today - we wouldn't put anyone off using the France win in a Bet Builder - Mbappe is the man most likely to get them over the line.