Didier Deschamps, it was hot with his players: “It happened…”

Raphaël Varane said stop. At only 31 years old, the former Madrilenian has decided to end his career. And if the knee injury he suffered this summer during his first outing with Como precipitated his retirement, his decision was not taken on a whim. No more than his choice to stop the France team at the end of the 2022 World Cup when he was only 29 years old.

The Blues nevertheless represented the Holy Grail for the central defender. “Winning for your country is incomparable,” he confided to this effect in the columns of
The Teamobviously cherishing the coronation of 2018 but not only that. “As much as the victory in 2018, my greatest memory remains the play-off against Ukraine (0-2 in the first leg, 3-0 in the return) in November 2013, qualifier for the 2014 World Cup. I still have thrills to talk about it…”he whispered. An encounter which put him at great risk.

Very tense meetings

“After the first leg, I was ready to leave the rally because my knee was not leaving me alone, just after my meniscus injury. It swelled, it was hot, and after the jump-off, in fact, I didn’t play for two months. That day, I clearly put my career on the line, he said. France needs me (smile), the coach needs me, I have to play, and I take the risk. »

However, two years later, Didier Deschamps did not select him for Euro 2016, believing that he could not recover in time from a thigh injury. But Raphaël Varane doesn’t hold it against him. “It made me suffer to miss this Euro, he confided. I don’t blame anyone. At the time, I was angry, because I would have had time to come back from my injury like I did at the 2022 World Cup, it was almost the same conditions. But I can’t blame him, I would have done the same in his situation. »

Raphaël Varane nonetheless evokes moments of tension with Didier Deschamps, but more so in the run-up to the 2018 World Cup, an adventure which left a lasting mark on him. “There was osmosis, with values, people from different worlds, religions and cultures, but together, something happened. But it wasn’t easy. Just before the World Cup, there were a few meetings with the coach and it was hot”he explained, adding: “We fought with the coach. But he understood us very well, because he did the same thing when he was a player…”