Didier Deschamps regrets the international retirement of Steve Mandanda, which will deprive him of an additional goalkeeper for the next installments of the France team.
After Hugo Lloris, Steve Mandanda. Once again number 2 in the France team, the Stade Rennais goalkeeper announced his international retirement, following in the footsteps of the one who was ahead of him in the hierarchy.
It’s the turn of @SteveMandanda to hang up the gloves with the French team 🧤🇫🇷
1️⃣6️⃣ years in Blue
3️⃣5️⃣ selections
1️⃣ World Cup 🏆Thank you for everything 𝘌𝘭 𝘍𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘰 🙌#FiersdetreBleus pic.twitter.com/d6jPFmw5gq
— Team France ⭐⭐ (@equipedefrance) January 14, 2023
For Didier Deschamps, this is news that must be digested. “This decision, which comes a few days after that taken by Hugo Lloris, I obviously have to respect it even if I did not want it, explains the coach of the Blues on the site of the FFF. She can’t leave me insensitive given Steve’s endearing personality, our common experience in the France team but also at Olympique de Marseille where he was, between 2010 and 2012, the captain of the team I was leading. . »
Which goalkeeper in March?
“Steve will therefore have served the France team for sixteen seasons, not always in the role he would have liked. But he has always shown great professionalism, emphasizes Deschamps, of a total implication and always had the concern to put the collective forward. Very appreciated by the players and the staff, very respected too, he was, in everyone’s eyes, more than a second goalkeeper. »
Steve Mandanda had played the match against Tunisia at the 2022 World Cup. With his experience, he would undoubtedly have been chosen to keep the cages of the Blues in March, if the physical problems of Mike Maignan were confirmed. Without his two veterans, and perhaps without his future n°1, Didier Deschamps could have to choose between Alphonse Areola, Alban Lafont or a newcomer (Brice Samba, Illan Meslier…) for the next meetings of the Habs.
