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MOSCOW (Reuters) – After being blamed for the quarter-final exit of the FIFA World Cup four years ago, Raphael Varane exorcised the 2014 ghosts with the opening of France 2-0.
The central defender, who was only 21 years old at the time, was blamed for the defeat of France against Germany in Rio de Janeiro, at the An aerial duel with Mats Hummels. -Beat.
But in Nizhny Novgorod, four years later, Varane stood up to register a perfectly synchronized head on a free kick from Antoine Griezmann who sent the ball into the corner of the Uruguayan net and gave the road to victory. to France.
"I told Antoine to give me a chance to try with my head and he delivered perfectly," Varane said on French television after scoring in Friday's game.
It was a much more confident attack from the ball unlike the way he tried to defend against Hummels in Brazil and ended up being outdone by the more experienced German.
Didier Deschamps said that he had not been blamed four years ago, but that he was happy to praise Russia.
"He was not guilty four years ago against Germany," said the coach after the semi-final against Belgium in St. Petersburg.
"I'm happy for him, and I told him that at the end of the match, in football you have to face tough times, and four years later, my players grew up, they're more mature and of experience. "
Varane, who has 50 selections while he was only 25, is now able to win both the Champions League and the World Cup in some months.
He has already won three Champions League titles with Real Madrid and could have one more but was injured in 2016, also missing the European Championship accordingly.
Deschamps made him captain when he rested several players for the last game of his group C, a goalless draw against Denmark in Moscow.
"His style of play serves as motivation for his teammates," said Guy Stephan, Deschamps' vice president earlier this week. "Raphael has a lot of confidence in playing so many games at a high level with Real Madrid."
Editing by Brian Homewood
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