Solna (Sweden) (AFP)
Pulsive and without much inspiration, the Blues still managed their comeback after ten months of stoppage thanks to Kylian Mbappé, Saturday in Sweden (1-0) during a meeting marked by the erased return of Adrien Rabiot.
"We cannot say that we had a brilliant match, but serious and diligent," summed up coach Didier Deschamps, saved by the "flashes" of Mbappé and the all-terrain pressing of "radiant" N'Golo Kanté.
Between Tirana and Solna, there are nearly 3,000 km but above all a chasm of 293 days since the last match of the Blues, on November 17, 2019 in the Albanian capital (2-0 victory).
In the stadium in the northern suburbs of Stockholm, empty of spectators in these times of health crisis, the France team has maintained its dynamic of victories in a lucky way, with an identical system of play but a different cast and context.
It is indeed in an environment made "heavy", "restrictive" and "anxiety-provoking" by the Covid-19 pandemic, in the words of Deschamps, that the Blues made their return to school, disturbed by the package of Paul Pogba, Houssem Aouar and Steve Mandanda, all tested positive for Covid-19 before or during the rally.
The absences and disparate states of form of the internationals have forced the boss of the world champions to innovate even more than usual.
This news did the business of Adrien Rabiot, summoned to everyone's surprise after a long crossing of the desert, and established against the Swedish "Blagult".
The performance of the talented - and sometimes capricious - 25-year-old midfielder was necessarily scrutinized with regard to his busy past: six "mixed" selections (dixit Deschamps), including one in Bulgaria where he had confessed to having been "afraid of get injured "because of the cold, and a reservist status at the 2018 World Cup resoundingly refused.
- "Come help us + Adri +!"
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He wanted "to be able to show himself, (s) 'assert himself in this team" during the September training camp, but the Juventus player did not necessarily score many points in Sweden, in the shadow of N'Golo Kanté and sometimes called to order by his teammates: "Come help us Adri!", For example shouted Lucas Digne.
It would be unfair, however, to dwell on his performance anyway, as his other partners have not shown much.
Weaned from a scoring opportunity, the Blues even experienced several alerts: a powerful but out-of-frame strike from Mikael Lustig (15th), an attempt by Victor Lindelöf (21st) stopped by Hugo Lloris, also decisive in front of Marcus Berg (38th).
Fortunately for the world champions, they have in Mbappé a nugget capable of reversing a badly embarked situation.
Like a grown-up, the young Paris SG striker started from the left touchline to infiltrate the area between two defenders and deceive from the left Robin Olsen (41st), scoring his 14th goal in 35 caps, the first since June 2019 in Andorra.
For this first match of the season, almost ten months after the last one played in November 2019 in Albania (2-0), Deschamps had renewed the same system as in Tirana: a back base with three central defenders, including the new Dayot Upamecano (21), a line of four in the middle and Antoine Griezmann as conductor of the attack formed by Olivier Giroud and Mbappé.
Touched in the second half to the right ankle, sensitive for several weeks, the Parisian was restless before his replacement (77th) by Anthony Martial.
The Manchester United striker, more seen in the selection since March 2018, caused a penalty but Antoine Griezmann missed it (90th + 5).
The young prodigy Eduardo Camavinga, only 17, remained on the bench, unlike his Stade Rennes teammate Steven Nzonzi, who entered at the very end of the match.
He will have to wait until Tuesday and the reception in Saint-Denis of the Croatian vice-world champions, beaten on Saturday in Portugal (4-1), to hope to honor his first selection.
"I'm going to make a lot of changes because it's very difficult to be able to follow up," said Deschamps.
"It may go against cohesion and automatisms, but I think I have no choice."
© 2020 AFP