Kylian Mbappé will not play for France in Milan on Thursday, and the rumor mill has already decided why. Zinedine Zidane confirmed Wednesday that his captain is out of the Nations League showdown with Italy with a hamstring problem, just as French media were reporting friction between the two men. But the most revealing number in the Mbappé Zidane tension saga isn’t a quote. It’s four. Counting Thursday, that’s how many of Zidane’s first five matches in charge Mbappé will have missed.

Mbappé Zidane Tension: What’s Actually Confirmed

Here’s what’s on the record. Zidane told reporters Mbappé “felt a little pain and we won’t take any risk.” He added that it’s minor and that Mbappé should be fine for Sunday, when France host Turkey in Bordeaux. Mbappé sat out Wednesday’s training. Zidane says he finds his captain in good spirits and that he wanted to play.

France are scrambling for bodies. Senny Mayulu of PSG gets his first senior call-up, and Bournemouth’s Eli Junior Kroupi replaces the injured Marcus Thuram. Expect Désiré Doué to play as the central striker. Italy coach Roberto Mancini couldn’t resist a joke, telling reporters “I would suggest he doesn’t risk it.” with Real Madrid’s Champions League games coming up.

The stakes are real. France have three wins and a draw from four group games, and beating Italy at San Siro would send them into the quarterfinals.

The Number Behind the Noise

Mbappé scored the winner at Turkey in September, then left with a left-knee problem. He missed the next three matches. He finally returned for this camp, and now it’s his hamstring. Zidane has had France’s all-time leading scorer fit for exactly one game.

The friction reports come mainly from L’Équipe. According to Goal’s summary of that coverage, Zidane used Mbappé out wide in September with Ousmane Dembélé at centre-forward, a switch that could read as a demotion for one player and a promotion for another. Communication has reportedly been cooler than it was under Didier Deschamps. Zidane has since indicated Mbappé would get his preferred central role against Italy and Turkey, with Dembélé injured. So the one camp built to keep Mbappé happy is the one his hamstring has interrupted.

Here’s my read. The tension reports rest on one newspaper, with nobody on the record complaining. And it’s hard to find a conspiracy in a hamstring when France are also missing Thuram, Tchouaméni, Kalulu, Koné, Saliba, Koundé, Lacroix, Dembélé, Akliouche and Lepaul.

The Feud With Better Evidence

The better-documented dispute isn’t Mbappé versus Zidane. It’s Mbappé versus Dembélé. After the Ballon d’Or nominees dropped in September, Mbappé said “I have always been seen as the chosen one,” contrasting that with Dembélé’s injury-hit path. Dembélé hit back that he had never said a word and simply worked incredibly hard. Both have since played it down in public. Dembélé is out of this camp with a thigh problem, so there’s no awkward handshake to watch for.

So is it injury or friction? Right now the evidence says injury, with a side order of friction nobody has put on the record. A coach can’t be blamed for four missed games out of five. Until Mbappé and Zidane share a pitch for more than a single match, the Mbappé Zidane tension story is mostly a story about hamstrings and a very thin France squad.