Raphaël Varane, 2018 world champion, renounces French team in turn

After the announcements of Captain Hugo Lloris, Steve Mandanda and the Ballon d’Or Karim Benzema, the central defender is the quick tricolor player to take his international retirement since the last World Cup in Qatar.

by Anthony Hernandez

At 29, and when millions of French people demonstrate against retirement reform, the age of his departure may seem incongruous. However, Thursday, February 2, Raphaël Varane announced that he is ending his international career, but not his career as a professional footballer. “I have been thinking about it for several months and I decided that it was the right time,” he wrote on Instagram. The time has come for a new generation to take over. We have a group of young talented players who is ready to take over. “

2018 world champion, the central defender honored 93 selections in the blue jersey (13 e the most capped player in history), which he worn for the first time there At ten years old, already under the orders of Didier Deschamps. It was on March 22, 2013, at the Stade de France, in Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis), against Georgia (3-1) during qualifications at the 2014 World Cup. His last selection will therefore remain the World final lost to Argentina, December 18, 2022, in Qatar. In his farewell message, the Manchester United player prefers to evoke the good times of the coronation in Russia: “We brought the cup back to the house. I will never forget it.”

Pillar of the defense of the Blues for ten years, Varane was trained at the Racing Club of Lens, which he left in 2011 to join Real Madrid at the age of 17, with which he won four League Champions. In 2021, he joined Manchester United, whose colors he still defends. The northerner has twenty occasions the captain of the French team, of which sixteen times as soon as you kick off. He was also the second youngest captain of the Blues, at the age of 21 years, 5 months and 21 days.

Deschamps “respects his decision”

Key man of Didier Deschamps, the neoretraité was of the first campaign of the coach, completed in the quarterfinals of the 2014 World Cup. He was forfeited for Euro 2016 at home because of an injury, a tear in the tear Left femoral muscle. In 2018, he took revenge by competing in all of the seven victory games in Russia. Impressive throughout the tournament, he even marks a resumption of the head the opening of the score against Uruguay in the quarterfinals. in a press release , the FFF recalls its latest tricolor title: “The League of Nations 2021 won in Milan at the expense of Spain. For that and for everything else, a huge thank you, Rapha!”

Marked by numerous injuries in recent seasons, the big defender of 1.91 m almost missed the last World Cup. In October, during a premier League shock against Chelsea, he had come out crying, certainly imagining himself already forfeit for the big meeting. Uncertain until the last minute, he is finally present in the list of Blues, even if he was preserved in the first match against Australia. He then played 75 minutes, then 67, against Denmark and Tunisia. He then played all the matches with direct elimination against Poland, England and Morocco. In the final, he held 113 minutes against Argentina.

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