“Don’t bother with ‘small score’, we’re in the quarter-finals,” the Matelassier said to the journalist who had used the expression in his question. [C’était un] “It was a great defensive game for the team. I’ve always said it: without a great defense, you can’t go far. We still created a few chances. We weren’t able to put ourselves in the best positions to find the perfect shot. We have to keep working on that. It was still a new system for us, we have to get used to it.”
When did he find out he was going to play on the right?
“It was this morning. I am at the service of the coach and the team. As we always say, we adapt. That’s what’s important for today’s players, to be able to play everywhere, to sacrifice themselves for the team. In our group, we have quite a few of them [des joueurs capables de se sacrifier]it’s a pleasure to play with this locker room.”
It is relaunched on this notion of “sacrifice”…
“Sacrifice, it’s going to be taken badly. The coach told me to play here, I played here. I don’t ask him why he puts me in the eleven or on the bench. No matter where I play, I’m going to give it my all. He knows very well where I like [jouer]I know it too. But as long as I’m on the field, as long as I’m playing, I’m going to give everything for the team, for this coach, who has a lot of confidence in me. I always try to give back to him on the field.”
“We didn’t miss him much. We had a plan today and we did well. We knew that with the quality of France, we weren’t going to have much possession. We had chances. It’s a shame to concede a goal like that, but that’s football.”
“When you give France too much space, it’s very difficult to defend on Mbappé, Griezmann or Thuram. It was difficult to put pressure on with this plan but he held on until 5 minutes from the end. It’s a shame.”
A logical reward, as the defender of the Blues muzzled Jérémy Doku.
It is updated, of course, with this superb French success.
Randal Kolo Muani: “It’s really nice. We really pushed during this match, we shot a lot but without hitting the target. I had the chance to try to hit the target and it was blocked, it went in the back of the net. We are very happy and very proud.”
“The coach asked me to bring my freshness, to shake them up with my speed.”
We thank our friends at Sofascore for not nodding off.
“It’s beautiful, we played a great game against a good team, it was tight. Even if I think we had a lot more possession and chances. Kolo, it’s Kolo, it’s beautiful. Good for him and for the team.”
Castagne and Carrasco exit, De Ketelaere and Lukebakio enter.
After a two-man action on the hour mark, Koundé passes back to Kanté who serves Kolo Muani. The Parisian’s strange strike from the right is blocked by Verthongen and it goes in.
Well, that’s not what I saw as animation.
