France U21’s trip to Tallinn on 29 September was meant to be a routine Euro qualifier. By the 41st minute it had cost two Ligue 1 clubs a player.

Ethan Mbappé, the Lille midfielder and younger brother of Kylian, lasted just 12 minutes before an ankle knock forced him off. Senny Mayulu followed soon after, pulling up with a problem in his left thigh.

Paris Saint-Germain confirmed in a medical update on 1 October that their forward would miss club football for weeks.

“Having sustained an injury to his left thigh during the France U21 match against Estonia on Tuesday evening, Senny Mayulu will undergo treatment over the coming weeks,” the club said.

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France still won 2-0 in Tallinn.

Marseille’s international nightmare

Olympique de Marseille were the hardest-hit club of the window. Pierre-Emile Højbjerg, Derek Cornelius and Amine Gouiri all returned to the training ground with injuries picked up on national-team duty, according to Le Phocéen.

Højbjerg’s rear-thigh problem was sustained in Denmark’s 1-0 win over Wales. Cornelius had the most serious damage, a hip injury suffered with Canada that Marseille’s regional press described as serious. Gouiri felt his thigh go while on Algeria duty against Zambia.

Head coach Bruno Génésio therefore returns to Ligue 1 action with a selection headache in a squad already stretched thin after modest summer recruitment.

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Brest take the worst single hit

The rest of the Ligue 1 casualties were scattered across continents. Monaco playmaker Aleksandr Golovin took a shin knock on Russia duty, reportedly not serious. Lens midfielder Amadou Haïdara was hurt representing Mali.

Brest absorbed the heaviest individual blow. Defender Raphaël Le Guen fractured his fibula in training on 25 September, before the squad broke up for internationals, and will be sidelined for several months, according to the official Ligue 1 injury review.

beIN Sports noted that the French top flight was not the hardest-hit among Europe’s five major leagues, after a break that it also described as lasting 16 days and including as many as four matches for some national teams.

PSG resume Ligue 1 play without Mayulu, whose weeks-long recovery was confirmed by the club on 1 October.

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