Mbappé is set to join a list of football stars who wore protective masks in games

Kylian Mbappé joins a list of football stars who have worn protective masks due to injuries.

Kylian Mbappé is always a marked man. At the European Championship, he's set to be known as the masked man.

The France superstar broke his nose in his team's opening game of Euro 2024, a 1-0 win over Austria on Monday, and is likely to be fitted with a carbon-fiber mask if he is to play again in the tournament.

He wouldn't be the first football player needing to wear a mask, as Mbappé himself has pointed out.

The Associated Press looks at some others to have used this type of protective equipment on a field:

Son Heung-min broke his eye socket while playing for Tottenham in the Champions League about three weeks before the 2022 World Cup and required surgery, meaning he had to don a mask for South Korea's games in Qatar.

“It’s more comfortable than I was expecting,” Son said about the mask at the time. "Although it does feel different from when I tried it on in the U.K. because of the weather. I think it was more comfortable there because I sweat more here due to the heat. I kept touching my mask during training to adjust it. I am still getting used to it but I was surprised at how comfortable it was.” He said the mask was lighter than he expected.

Son wasn't the only masked player at that World Cup.