From pain to glory: the battling striker who excites Zidane in Mbappé's absence

Zinedine Zidane's France host Italy this Friday evening, chasing another positive result.

Zidane has made a strong start as head of the French national team, winning his first two matches against Turkey and Belgium.

France may not have hit top form, according to Sport newspaper, but they showed plenty of solidity and, more importantly, the ruthlessness to grind out wins.

Kylian Mbappé picked up an injury against Turkey, so France head into Friday with a fresh chance to keep the good signs coming and protect their unbeaten record under Zidane.

Zidane can call on a deep pool of stars for his starting line-up. He has also stumbled on a pleasant surprise in Esteban Lepaul, the Rennes forward who topped the French league scoring charts last season with 21 goals in 34 games.

Behind the numbers lies a tale of struggle. It goes a long way to explaining the French striker's meteoric rise to the top.

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An unexpected hero
Before becoming one of the most prominent strikers in French football, Le Paul endured one of the toughest moments a person can face.
In 2020, with the striker still in Lyon's academy, the club let him go. The news landed as a harsh blow, so harsh that he questioned whether to carry on with football at all.
Then came a family tragedy that made things worse. That same year, his father Fabrice Le Paul, the former Auxerre player and France under-21 international, was involved in a serious road accident.
Alongside his family, the player had to make the decision to switch off the life support machines keeping his father alive.
Rather than give in, Le Paul found a way forward in football. His rise was rapid.
He joined Angers from Épinal in the 2023-2024 season and helped fire the club to promotion into the French top flight.
Once in the top division, he scored 9 goals in his first season and caught the eye of Rennes. They backed him heavily, paying around 13.5 million euros to sign him.

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The explosion against Rennes
Rennes handed Le Pul the real breakthrough of his career. He repaid that faith with an exceptional season, scoring 21 goals and providing 5 assists in the French league, figures that saw him finish as the competition's top scorer.
Such form duly came knocking on the door of the French national team.
Zidane had no hesitation in handing him a first call-up, and Le Pul responded by making his debut in the national shirt against Turkey on 25 September.
Three days later, the striker started against Belgium in the second match of the Zidane era.
Now Italy awaits, another chance to prove his arrival with France is not merely a reward for his story of struggle, but the next step in a career that still has plenty of room to grow.