The recent match between France and Ireland marked the first time that Ousmane Dembele and Kylian Mbappe have played for their countries as teammates at club level. What might be confusing is that they have mismatched shirt numbers for the club and country, as spotted by football squad number experts @squadnos.
For France, Mbappe wears Number 10, but Number 7 for PSG. Meanwhile, Dembele wear Number 10 for PSG, but Number 11 for France.
France
Mbappe and Dembele are both key players in the French team and have worn the number 10 and 11 shirts, respectively, in recent years.
10 - Mbappe
When Mbappé was first called up to the France squad in the 2016-17 season, he wore the number 20 and number 12 shirts before wearing the number 10 shirt to this day.
In the French team, the number 7 shirt was worn by Antoine Griezmann, a major French player at the time. As a result, Mbappe was unable to wear that number, so he opted for number 10.
11 - Dembele
Dembele wore shirt number 12 for the first few days of his France call-up before switching to number 11, which he still wears today.
PSG
At PSG, Mbappe was given the number 7 shirt, while Dembele was given the number 10 shirt shortly after Neymar's departure.
7 - Mbappe
Mbappé was number 29 for Monaco and he donned that number in his first season at PSG, switching to 7 for the 2018-19 season – 10 was held by Neymar.
10 - Dembele
When the winger joined Paris from Barcelona in the off-season, he was initially given the number 23, which he wore for his first club, Rennes. Neymar's move to Saudi Arabia helped Dembele earn the number 10 shirt.
Dembélé’s swap allowed another France international, Randal Kolo Muani, to take number 23 when he signed from Eintracht Frankfurt close to the end of the transfer window. Muani now wears shirt number 12 for France
What do you think of the fact that Mbappe and Dembele's shirt numbers for PSG and France mismatch? Comment below.