Deschamps plays the Great Pardon with Adrien Rabiot

• Didier Deschamps recalled Adrien Rabiot in the France team, two after the latter refused to be a substitute for the 2018 World Cup.
• A decision that surprised and that is still a little difficult to understand.

The Big Pardon, then. Not much to see between the Bettoun clan and that of the Rabiot, but we could not miss this cinematographic reference with "the French Godfather", the 80s and our Roger "Navarro j'écoute" Hanin national. In short, Adrien Rabiot is recalled to the France team by Didier Deschamps two years after his national betrayal, a refusal to be on the list of reservists for the 2018 World Cup. And let's say it as we think: that blow , no one had seen it coming.

Let's say it as we think twice: we imagined that if Adrien Rabiot came back one day in blue, it would be either because Didier Deschamps is no longer the coach or because he chained perf't'tly incredible in club that the resentful DD would have no other choice under popular pressure. It is neither one nor the other and it is clear that we were wrong about everything and everyone. Time has simply passed, some absent have freed up places and Rabiot has "found a very, very good level", according to Deschamps.

And that's all ? As surprised as we, the journalists present in the auditorium of the French Football Federation, relaunch DD once, twice, three times. To understand. “It happened what happened, I'm not someone who likes to take radical positions. Since that time, he has remained selectable. This is what led to its convocation ”.

What about Benzema?

We won't have much more, except that Deschamps is so sure of his own that he didn't even call Rabiot before this call-up to make sure they were both on the same page. "I dare think he'll be here Monday," he smiles. It was not until two years ago, however, that Rabiot created around the Blues the kind of controversy that Deschamps hates, that he refused the selection - the worst outrage - and that as a bonus he allowed himself to criticize the choices "without any sporting logic" of the coach. Deschamps' response was scathing: “The three games he played with us this season, he just has to watch them carefully. I know I can't count on him. He is at fault, period. He will assume ”.

We did this edit in 2018, if anyone remembers why ... - SIPA

Since then, the Blues have been world champions without him, but Rabiot has discovered another universe with Juventus and gained two years of age, it helps to mature. And if he has certainly not forgotten, Deschamps seems to have forgiven. "These are not harsh words [that Rabiot made in 2018]," he explains today. He made a decision. I consider it a mistake on his part. I think that with him there was no aggression. He is a player who still has many years ahead of him. I am a pragmatic person. If I think it's good for the France team [and] that Adrien says he is selectable, I put it back. "

Deschamps the merciful, 2020 will not have spared us nothing. Let's not go too fast, though. To a journalist who asked him if this return of Rabiot did not weaken his authority, Deschamps kindly threatened to remove from him "in the second" any doubt he might have on said authority. To another who considered that after all, if we forgave Rabiot, why not Benzema, he just laughed before leaving. "Well brought, I expected this one." Magnificent. Maybe he doesn't know there was a Big Pardon 2 . With the same actors, moreover!

Didier Deschamps on a possible return of Karim Benzema to the French team: "This one is well brought up" #lequipeFOOT pic.twitter.com/9krKMTBE7J

• French team
• Didier Deschamps
• Adrien rabiot
• Soccer
• Sport