India, March 28 -- The traffic on the way to France's World Cup tuneup against Brazil was a problem. Kylian Mbappe's knee was not. The former Paris Saint-Germain and current Real Madrid star showed no ill effects from his knee injury on Thursday when he broke free for a goal to give France an early lead on its way to a 2-1 victory in a friendly between two of the world's top teams.

Mbappe missed almost a month with a left knee sprain for Real Madrid before coming on as a substitute in the last two matches. France coach Didier Deschamps started Mbappe but had him on a limit of about an hour; he came off for a substitute in the 65th minute. "He has a lot of desire, a lot of soreness in his legs," Dechamps said.

"Beyond that - the quality ...