Several players from the France U23 team, qualified for the quarter-finals of the competition, had a thought for Nahel’s family at a press conference. “We were keen to win to pay tribute to him,” said Amine Gouiri, for example. The young tricolors face Ukraine on Sunday for a place in the semi-finals.
The players of the France hopeful team, qualified for the quarter-finals of the Euro football in Georgia and Romania, “were keen to win” against Switzerland to support the family of Nahel, killed Tuesday by the shooting of a policeman during a traffic control. First of all, it was Rayan Cherki, named man of the match in Les Bleuets’ last group match against Switzerland on Tuesday (4-1), who started the press conference on Wednesday with a message of support: “J I have a thought for Nahel’s family. Everyone knows what happened and we also wanted to win this match for him and his loved ones.”
“He’s a young man like us”
The next day, his teammates Amine Gouiri and Loïc Badé agreed with him. “He’s a youngster like us,” Gouiri explained. “It could have been someone from our family, that’s why it touched us and why we wanted to have a thought for his family. We were keen to win to pay tribute to him”, continued the Stade Rennes striker.
“We are particularly touched by this event”, also thought Loïc Badé, the central defender of the Bleuets who plays at Sevilla FC. “Many of us come from Ile-de-France. Nanterre is not far from many players, we will also try to go as far as possible (in the tournament) for this family.” France will play their quarter-final on Sunday against Ukraine (9 p.m.). A game to watch Europe 1 Sport.