At Clairefontaine,
It must be said, there are days that are nicer than others to go to Clairefontaine. For example, on a beautiful sunny end of the morning, with the light wind that softens the atmosphere just enough and carries the good smell of freshly cut grass. It smells like summer and holidays in the temple of the Blues in this month of June, and it would be easy to be lulled by the soft ambient languor. Especially since the identity of the opponent who presents himself on Friday does not help to get out of it. The terrible Gilbraltar team, with its 59 defeats and 251 goals conceded in 76 official matches since its affiliation to UEFA in 2013, is not really enough to make the vice-world champions tremble.
But as it is important not to forget his good manners, there is no question at the start of the rally of pretending that we are going to win 5-0 by marching against illustrious strangers. The happy press conference attendants have been well briefed not to be caught in the act of being smug. This Wednesday, Ibrahima Konaté recited his lesson well when he was asked what he knew of the representatives of this tiny British territory lost in the south of Spain, populated like the city of Cambrai (32,000 inhabitants).
“Not three points different from those of March”
“Almost all the players play in their league. It’s a team that plays low block, compact. It reminds me a bit of Ireland, against whom we had a lot of trouble scoring in March (1-0 victory in Dublin), he observed. It’s not going to be easy, it will be very hot and then playing against the France team is not every day for them. Hop hop hop Ibou watch out, we weren’t far from the boulard alert. Fortunately, the Liverpool defender stopped in time.
A good student, he also recalled that a match was never won in advance: “On paper people will say it’s going to be easy, but with my little experience I know not to take anyone high. . These are not three different points from those of March. » Unstoppable.
“We are going to prepare for the match seriously”
The day before, Eduardo Camavinga and Jules Koundé had also thwarted the trap of arrogance with disconcerting ease. The Real midfielder even had fun. “You expect me to say no, I’m sure,” he replied with a laugh to the journalist who asked him if he could name the names of a few players, before executing: “The captain, Chipolina, and Walker , a player who will be in my zone if I play in the middle. » Mention also for the Barcelonan, who quoted « Britto and Casciaro, players who may be brought to play on my side ».
Well, we’ve passed a few exams in our life and we know quite well the trick of “I’m just learning what you need to know about my game to make it look like I’ve mastered the trick”. But we won’t give a lesson, that’s still four names more than we could have answered. Let’s be reassured in any case, the Blues will not arrive in Faro in flip-flops on Friday. Didier Deschamps has already presented his players with videos of Gibraltar’s first two matches in these Euro qualifiers (two 3-0 defeats against Greece and the Netherlands). Other sessions will follow over the next two days.
“We are going to prepare for the match seriously, we will have to start the match with intensity and desire,” warned Koundé. “We will have to find sequences of passes, shifts, to score quickly enough,” added Randal Kolo Muani, also passing through conf on Wednesday. After all, the memory of the pitiful 0-0 at home against Luxembourg in qualifying for the 2018 World Cup is not so distant.