France's Dembele ruled out of Euro 2020 with injury

June 19, 2021 France's Ousmane Dembele in action with Hungary's Attila Fiola Pool via REUTERS

France forward Ousmane Dembele has been ruled out of Euro 2020 with an injury, the French football federation said on Monday, in a blow to the world champions' ambitions,

Dembele had come on as a second-half substitute in the world champions' 1-1 Group F draw against Hungary on Saturday and had an immediate impact on their attack, but limped off with an apparent knee injury.

"Ousmane Dembele had an X-ray at the Budapest hospital on Sunday night," the FFF said in a statement, without elaborating on the nature of the injury.

"The recovery time is incompatible with him staying in the squad. After discussing with the player and (team doctor) Franck le Gall, (coach) Didier Deschamps has acknowledged that Ousmane Dembele is ruled out for the rest of the tournament."

Deschamps still has other attacking options behind starters Antoine Griezmann, Karim Benzema and Kylian Mbappe, with Olivier Giroud, Kingsley Coman and Wissam Ben Yedder in the squad.

France are top of Group F on four points, one ahead of Portugal and Germany and three above Hungary before taking on Portugal in the last round of group games on Wednesday.