“A collective strength emerges outside and it shows on the field,” coach Didier Deschamps was satisfied on Saturday after the World Cup victory against Denmark (2-1) thanks to Kylian Mbappé, “an extraordinary player” .
Journalist : For months you have been hearing about the curse of the defending champions, eliminated in the first round of the last three editions. Was that a driving force for your band?
Didier Deschamps “Soon I’m going to have to thank everyone who told me about it! You (journalists) are on your feet. It was factual. I’m never worried, today it’s a joy. You know, the environment isn’t always the most peaceful (referring to the many injuries, Ed.) But when I’m with the players, I make sure to go all the way with those who are there. no anxiety or worry, for the good reason that at some point the statistics are made to be contradicted. We are not going to get carried away but it is very good what we have done so far. “Beyond the quality of the group, the players are competitors. There is a collective strength that emerges outside, and on the pitch it can also be seen. We will need that for what awaits us.”
Journalist : Can you sum up Kylian Mbappé’s performance?
Didier Deschamps : “Kylian is an extraordinary player. He has this ability to be decisive, to make a difference, even if the opponents make arrangements. The fact of also having other players around him who bring danger, it allows him to be a little more liberated. And beyond his enormous qualities, he is part of a collective, he makes a lot of effort. He has set himself this goal of the World Cup and the France team will need a very good Kylian. He’s a leader. (…) Kylian is not going to speak, it’s not really his thing, but because of what he does he’s a locomotive. N’Golo Kanté, we didn’t hear him in 2018, but that didn’t stop him (from being a leader on the pitch).”
Journalist : Why did you establish Jules Koundé in place of Benjamin Pavard as right-back? And what did you think of Raphaël Varane’s return to competition?
Didier Deschamps : “Benjamin was coming out of a very complicated match for him (against Australia, editor’s note), I felt that he was better off breathing. I had long discussions with Jules before making the list, he was ready to play in that position (…) Jules was efficient, obviously he didn’t have to overflow much because with the arrow in front of him (Ousmane Dembélé, editor’s note) , he can’t go any faster. He’s more in a role of closure, of balance, he put in a good performance. As for Raphaël, he was ready, we did everything for it. He was ready for the first match but from the discussions I had with him, the fact that he was able to do three more training sessions, that still gave him a little more guarantee compared to the fact that he had not played for a little more than a month. I know that in the last twenty minutes there is always a risk, that’s why I took him out. He almost missed this world cup, he knows it, today he is there and we will have need him.”