“He was like a little madman,” Digne recounts how his 5-year-old son reacted when he learned of his return to the French team

A rather unexpected phone call. While he was preparing to spend the international break with Aston Villa, Lucas Digne was called up to the French team to compensate for Ferland Mendy’s absence against Italy and Belgium in the Nations League. In an interview with L’Équipe, the left-back recounts how Didier Deschamps contacted him, more than two years after his last selection.

“I was in training when he was called up and when I got to the dressing room I saw that I had a message from the coach asking me to call him back. I did. He told me he wanted to select me. I said ‘yes’ straight away,” the 31-year-old explained. “I rushed to join the squad. As I was coming back from training, I first went home, packed my suitcase and gave my children a kiss, who accompanied me to the plane.”

“He watched the Olympics, he loves football”

The good news obviously delighted the whole family. In particular his young son Isaho, who had no memory of his father in the blue jersey. “My little boy is 5 years old, he’s starting to realize it,” confides Digne. “He watched the Olympics, he loves football, he watched the Euros too. He was like a little madman. He said to me: ‘Oh my, I’m so happy for you’. It was super cute (smile).”

After sitting on the bench during the defeat against Italy at the Parc des Princes (1-3), the former PSG and Barça player played the entire match against Belgium at the Groupama Stadium in Lyon (2-0). Enough to celebrate his forty-seventh selection with joy.

- RMC Sport