In France it was always a tradition for the captain to appear before the press before matches. Kylian Mbappé fulfilled yesterday, before the round of 16 duel against Belgium (6:00 p.m., TVE1) with that custom after being awarded the captaincy by Didier Deschamps upon returning from the World Cup in Qatar.
After goalkeeper Hugo Lloris withdrew from the national team, the role fell to Antoine Griezmann. Deschamps argued his decision in the second half in which Mbappé starred in the final against Argentina. He led the discussion in the dressing room and then the 2-2 draw with a superb performance that took the thrilling final to extra time and then to penalties. In the background, there was also the need to make Mbappé feel like a symbol and national heritage to convince him to delay his signing for Real Madrid.
Griezmann was more upset by the symbolic than by fear of losing leadership or influence in the booth. Giroud and the also veterans Kanté, Pavard and Rabiot are part of his hard core. It didn’t take him long to digest the setback. Deep down, there is an unwritten pact in which both Mbappé and Griezmann exercise their ascendancy over the group.
The passage of time, Griezmann is 33 years old, also made Deschamps think about the future by handing the captaincy to Mbappé. The French federation itself did not see it with bad eyes either, due to the greater projection of the image of the new Real Madrid player.
Deschamps is looking for a balance between the two and their joint breakthrough at this European Championship. The French coach is considering a change of system that would benefit both and serve to defeat De Bruyne, Lukaku and company. The change of system would even benefit Griezmann more. The newspaper L’Equipand It was announced on Thursday that the coach has tried a change of design in which Griezmann would play as a midfielder, his preferred position, behind Mbappé and Marcus Thuram. “It’s about having that aim. If you want to win you have to score, and that is not what we have done. That happens to the best and the best scorers,” Deschamps said.
It would not be the first time that he has looked for an ideal mold for the red and white. Since he welcomed him at the 2014 World Cup, when he had not yet dimensioned his figure in the international showcase, Griezmann has been Deschamps’ right eye. Not even Mbappé’s shocking emergence in the 2018 World Cup changed that interrelationship between coach and player. Of that France that was proclaimed world champion in Russia, Griezmann was its undisputed leader. It was the ideological extension of Deschamps on and off the field when France won games by scratching, with a solid defense retreated into its own field to safeguard short scores that the Atlético attacker froze. In the last minutes he dropped back to the center of the field to sleep the game with simple passes to the foot of his free teammate. “We played and suffered like Simeone’s Atlético. I am lucky to work with the best defensive coach, I see things on the field, I try to say them, to teach my teammates, just as they can teach me little things offensively. I am lucky to play with Cholo, so I give advice and tips to reorganize ourselves defensively,” he came to proclaim in the run-up to the final. Deschamps himself endorsed the words of his favorite pupil. It did not take long for Simeone to come to the fore to vindicate that France had ended the tiki-taka, the exaltation of possession, with which Spain and Germany reigned in 2010 and 2014 respectively. “The teams, starting from the World Cup, interpreted that there is another way of playing, where also from the defensive guard you grow offensively,” Cholo proclaimed.
Griezmann has been Deschamps’ keystone for a decade. Deschamps has always tried to create the ecosystem in which he could best exploit his virtues. At Euro 2016, after a conversation between the two following a lacklustre start, Griezmann suggested to Deschamps that he preferred to play with Giroud as a reference and himself acting as a satellite behind to receive the passes or extensions of the number nine with whom he has understood best in the national team. The red-and-white was the tournament’s top scorer with six goals.
Giroud has been relegated to the substitute in all three matches of this European Championship. Griezmann was inconsequential in the debut against Austria (1-0) and missed two clear chances against the Netherlands. Deschamps excused him, citing the lack of freshness in his legs and head after an exhausting season. In the third match against Poland (1-1), the French coach sat his favorite player on the bench. “He is not angry, he is a professional,” said the coach. That substitution was the second important message that Griezmann has received from Deschamps after Qatar 2022. The latter hopes that he will form a lethal partnership with Mbappé today. Yesterday he lamented the broken nose that occurred in the debut against Austria: “It’s horrible to play with a mask. “I thought I was going home.” That can happen today if he and Griezmann don’t sharpen up.
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