By Reinaldo Oliveros
03 Oct 2024, 10:47 AM EDT
France announced its call-up without Kylian Mbappé and Antoine Griezmann, the first after retiring from the national team. The French will face two games in the UEFA Nations League.
This will be the first call since 2013 that does not have Mbappé and Antoine Griezmann. According to Deschamps, Mbappé does not have any serious injuries after discomfort with Real Madrid.
“Kylian has nothing serious, but there are uncertainties and I don’t want to take any risks, Although he has a problem that is not serious, he needs care so that he recovers well,” said the technician during the announcement of the list.
He denied that he is noticing an absence of Mbappé’s involvement with the team, despite the rumors that arose during the last call-up.
“It is true that it was not in the best condition, for different reasons that I will not specify, but I have no doubts about his involvement with the national team. “I had just arrived in Madrid, I had not had a good preparation,” he explained.
Didier Deschamps talks about Griezmann’s retirement
The coach indicated that the Atlético de Madrid player’s decision to end his international career at the age of 33 has nothing to do with a deterioration in the relationship between the two, and confirmed that he would be on the list if he had not decided.
“It responds to a mature decision that began a long time ago, it was not something improvised. It is something natural after his entire career, there is physical but also psychological fatigue. He is closer to the end of his career, you don’t have the same priorities at 33 years old as at 25,” he explained.
The 2018 World Champion coach stressed that not giving Griezmann the captain’s badge did not affect their relationship and hastened his retirement from the French team.
“When I didn’t make him captain I was disappointed, but it didn’t last more than a day. With the relationship we have, he knows that if I didn’t make him captain it was because I didn’t want to add to the problems that come with it. Knowing him, I know that he doesn’t need it, that he needs tranquility and that spontaneity that he has on the field. That does not mean that he was a great leader,” he said.
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