Les Bleus in chiaroscuro: about two weeks before the announcement of Didier Deschamps’ list for Mondial-2022 on November 9, Raphaël Varane must recover from a thigh injury, while Adrien Rabiot…
Les Bleus in chiaroscuro: around two weeks before Didier Deschamps’ 2022 World Cup squad is announced on November 9, Raphaël Varane must recover from a thigh injury, while Adrien Rabiot and Nabil Fekir shone this weekend.
Varane, attendance suspended
Injured in his thigh and in tears on Saturday, calmed down a bit on Sunday, Raphaël Varane is involved in an uncertain race against time to recover before he leaves for Qatar.
Manchester United have not yet communicated the nature of his injury or the length of his absence, but it seems unlikely that the 29-year-old centre-back will make a full recovery until November 13, the date of the Red Devils’ final game before the World Cup . .
The MRI carried out on Sunday was “relatively positive”, according to a source close to the player interviewed by AFP. She confirmed a thigh injury (back of the thigh), but “less serious than it was feared”, which allows her to “keep hope” in view of the World Cup.
“It is still early” to estimate the duration of the absence, his circle specifies, while specialized media have mentioned three to four weeks of arrest.
– Rabiot goes overboard –
N’Golo Kanté misses out and Paul Pogba starts him in a race against time to return for the World Cup. But Didier Deschamps can be reassured by the excellent form of Adrien Rabiot (29 selections), currently one of the best players at Juventus.
In a heavy context within the “Old Lady”, lagging behind in the championship and in bad form in the Champions League, the former midfielder of Paris SG has flown over Friday’s debates against Empoli (4-0).
The first goal, signed by Moise Kean, came after a decisive 40-yard ball return by Rabiot. Which provided her second double of the season late in the match, with a whimper from a corner, then from close range, like a real “surface fox” in a final counter.
“He has a motor different from the others”, assessed his coach Massimiliano Allegri, while emphasizing, as often with the 27-year-old Frenchman, that he “still had a lot of room for improvement technically”.
Given the start of last summer due to the return of Pogba, Rabiot has made himself indispensable. And even with Pogba expected from November, his departure at the end of the season, at the end of the contract, no longer seems so certain according to the Italian media.
Fekir, great comeback
The weekend was marked by French strikes in Spain: Antoine Griezmann scored twice to give Atlético victory against Betis Sevilla (2-1), Ousmane Dembélé collected a goal and three assists against Athletic Bilbao (4-0)… and Nabil Fekir also struck, with a direct free kick, but could not prevent Betis from losing 2-1 to the Colchoneros.
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Back from a right thigh injury, Fekir replaced Andres Guardado in the 75th minute and his introduction changed the face of his side. With the captain’s armband, he inspired order and movement in the play of the Andalusians, who almost believed in an equalizer late in the match, with an Alex Moreno header in the 90th + 1, which was pressed onto the crossbar.
There are still three weeks left for the ex-Lyonnais to find some rhythm and hope to go to Qatar. Because before this injury was contracted against Roma on 6 October in the Europa League and caused him to miss four games, Fekir had missed four games through injury between 8 and 18 September.
However, the hopes of going to the World Cup are slim for the 2018 world champion (25 games): his last game in Blue dates back more than two years ago, on September 8, 2020 during the victory against Croatia (4- 2) in the League of Nations.
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Adrien Rabiot on October 11, 2022 in Haifa, Israel
• JACK GUEZ
Nabil Fekir on October 22, 2022 in Seville, Spain
• CHRISTINA QUICLER
