Don’t fall into the trap. Asked at a press conference about the Blues’ round of 16 match this Monday (6 p.m.) against a Belgium team in poor form, Konaté categorically refuses to name France as the favourite.
An outing that follows the last statement by De Bruyne who revealed this week in the mixed zone, after a draw against Ukraine (0-0), that Deschamps’ men were indeed favourites for this match. A “trap” for Konaté who assures that the Belgians “are trying to put all the pressure on our side.” “But that’s not true, there are no favourites. It’s 50-50”, the 25-year-old defender was keen to clarify.
A Belgium in bad shape but which remains dangerous
And the Liverpool player is well aware of some of the dangers of this Belgian team in the person of De Bruyne, a regular opponent in the Premier League, or Romelo Lukaku. Konaté assures that he knows the solutions against the latter, “cutting off the passes” for the midfielder and “not going into contact” against the robust Red Devils striker. Despite everything, he assures that this Belgium remains a collective and that “focusing too much” on individuals is a mistake.
“Both teams will come to want to win and qualify for the next round,” recalled the defender while the face displayed by De Bruyne’s teammates in the group stage was still not very reassuring with a first defeat (1 -0) against Slovakia at the tournament opener, a victory against Ukraine (2-0) and a sad draw (0-0) against Ukraine.
Original article published on RMC Sport
