In Clairefontaine,
Everyone jumped in, head first, us first. Kylian Mbappé absent from the next gathering of the Blues, the first post-Antoine Griezmann. A controversial bilateral choice, which made the French Irrésistibles jump, while the striker played 105 minutes with Real last week, including 71 after the announcement of Didier Deschamps’ list (where he already did not appear ). All of this plunges this French team, still convalescing after its elimination in the semi-final of Euro 2024, into unprecedented uncertainty under DD, asked to find replacement leaders to face Israel and Belgium in the Nations League.
In an emergency, it was necessary to measure the scope of the ex-Parisian’s consented desertion, as if there was necessarily room for interpretation. Has Mbappé opened a loophole in which the most powerful clubs, in their right as employers, would feel more comfortable rejecting the selections in order to give breathing space to players stifled by the unbreathable pace of the calendars? sports, a subject widely discussed by Ibrahima Konaté and Christopher Nkunku on Tuesday in Clairefontaine.
“In Liverpool, there is no discussion”, according to Konaté
The only real change is there, in these languages which are loosened among the players for the first time open to a strike since Rodri and Koundé stepped up to the plate. Carried by the momentum, the Liverpool defender felt like attacking English Boxing Day and promoting his end-of-year dreams in pajamas by the fire rather than entertaining the masses. But he also spoke well of his employer in his relationship with fragile and/or injured international players. “In Liverpool, there is no discussion. Mac Allister came out with pain, and the next day he left for Argentina. No particular pressure at Liverpool. »
The question of the balance of power between clubs and national teams is not new, although it seems to be intensifying as the bodies crumble: the case of Wesley Fofana, on whom Chelsea are putting pressure as well as Blues staff is another recent example. Of the sharks in the pool, Real Madrid is still the one that best masters the game of lying poker. For history buffs, in 2003, Zidane and Makélélé missed the late Confederations Cup because the Madrilenians were playing for the title with Real Sociedad in La Liga – a choice which would prove to be profitable.
No surprise then, to see grandpa Florentino pull out of his hat a neck injury for Vinicius before traveling to Brazil. Ditto for Eder Militão’s boo-boo… The case of the Brazilian defender is particularly funny. The latter had taken the direction of São Paulo despite an injury to the right thigh communicated in advance by the Merengue club. The Brazilian staff suspected it of being fake after seeing their player play the last 20 minutes against Villarreal, Militão therefore returned to the country for a new battery of examinations, confirming the injury. This is where we are in the level of confidence.
When Deschamps stood up to Bayern Munich
In France, observers did not fail to recall the episode of the clash between Didier Deschamps and Bayern Munich (2019) for a story of problems with Lucas Hernandez, where the coach distinguished himself by kindly sending Karl-Heinz to pasture Rummenigge. It was then very clear that DD was the only one to decide how he managed the players at his disposal, gray area or not. Five years later, the coach has changed and his view on the Mbappé case is the opposite of the inflexibility that he was known for.
“We must also not forget, and this has always been the case, that the employer is the club and not the Federation,” declared DD on the FFF YouTube Channel in place of the usual Monday press conference in Clairefontaine. Curious in both substance and form.
OUR FILE ON THE BLUE
Should we see a paradigm shift in the approach of the strong man of the Blues for ten years or a specific weakness, due to a more fragile position than five years ago? The only certainty: upon arrival, there are too many knots in the brain for a controversy on the sidelines of Nations League matches, which remains a foam cup. On this point, Deschamps has never deviated from course, the success of 2021 put aside. And his attitude would have been very different if these had been qualifying matches for a real competition.
