PSG's Leonardo Rips French FA After Announcement Of Kylian Mbappe Testing Positive For COVID-19

Paris Saint-Germain sporting director Leonardo was not utterly pleased with how he got the news about Kylian Mbappe testing positive for COVID-19.

The Brazilian executive slammed the French FA on Monday after the federation allegedly failed to inform PSG about Mbappe acquiring the Coronavirus that eventually sent the star forward home from his run at the Nations League with the France national team.

“I find it completely unacceptable that we learn from the press that one of our players is positive,” Leonardo told RMC, via Goal. “They released a statement and sent the player home but no-one from the Federation has communicated this to us. No one has contacted us.”

Leonardo said that the 21-year-old is back at home as he continued to lament how he had to resort to contacting the player himself just to confirm the news.

“Are we managing? Everyone gives lectures to PSG, that we’re poorly managed. But when this happens, it's still PSG that has to manage the problems, despite not knowing about them. PSG are always the bad guys in the story,” the 51-year-old said.

“It is a lack of respect to never communicate with the club. We did not speak with anyone. We only spoke with Mbappe. We were the ones who had to put the pressure on. It is unacceptable.”

In the said announcement, the FFA stated that Mbappe will miss France’s rematch of the 2018 World Cup final against Croatia on Tuesday.

"Kylian Mbappe will not participate in France versus Croatia on Tuesday evening at 20:45CET at the Stade de France," the statement confirmed.

"The result of his Covid-19 test carried out by UEFA on Monday morning was found to be positive. He was placed away from the group after receiving the results, at the end of training, before going back to his own home in the evening.

"Like the entire delegation, Kylian Mbappe had undergone a test prior to the games of the international break. The result was negative, like the one last Wednesday, at the request of UEFA, before Sweden against France."

The confirmation came just days after Mbappe delivered France to a 1-0 grind out win over Sweden. And although he is asymptomatic, his current condition is still treated as a huge dampener for PSG with the club already losing a handful of weapons due to COVID-19.

The French giants will play in their Ligue 1 opener against Lens sans Mbappe on Thursday with present indications suggesting that the absence is likely to extend to their matches against Marseille and Metz.