How Raphaël Varane “played with a sword of Damocles” above the knee throughout his career

« It’s a sprain of the left knee, from a really innocuous action. Seeing the images, you wonder how I got hurt, there is no contact, no twisting. » In an interview given to the Team this Wednesday, Raphaël Varane returned at length to the bane of his careerson kneeevoking this injury of July 11 which ended his career.

Although the injury seemed innocuous, it quickly worried the player: “ that it was my left knee was a strong sign, for me, because the left knee has been compensating for the right knee since 2013. (…) If my left knee tells me that it is fed up, I have to listen to it. Since the age of 20, I have played with a sword of Damocles above my right knee. (…) Over the last three years, I have only injured my left. The right knee had become strong, but less mobile, and the left knee did everything, for power, starts, impulses. Physically, this injury was sending me back into a spiral, and the balance between sacrifice and pleasure was no longer balanced. »

“For France, I will always do it again. »

This fragile knee, the former Lens player has been dragging it since 2013 and an injury to external meniscus who has “ deformed » his knee. In this regard, in response to a question about his adventure with the France team, the former international confides that he took risks for the love of the jersey: “ 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. (…) This match -there, I shouldn’t have played it. After the first leg, I was ready to leave the rally because my knee wouldn’t leave me alone. (…) That day, I clearly put my career on the line. (…) We remove the liquid, we put an anesthetic, I’m 20 years old, and I say to myself, too bad. (…) But I have no regrets. For France, I will always do it again. »