Silent since October 2019 with the Blue, Eugénie Le Sommer twice deceived North Macedonia (7-0), Tuesday, September 23, and brought down, at 31 years and 82 goals, the old record of the historic Marinette Pichon.

She said not to "take the lead" with this objective, which the followers reminded her at every rally, but her joy, Tuesday, in the closed door of Skopje, was a pleasure to see.

The number 9, captain's armband on his arm, scored on a direct free kick, in the 14th minute then on the penalty spot, in the 18th, before drowning in the arms of his partners.

"She scores a very good free kick, she takes her responsibilities from the penalty spot. I am very happy for her even if a former teammate (Pichon, Editor's note) sees her record fall", greeted coach Corinne Deacon.

Eleven years after the first, the 82nd international goal of the Lyon striker tastes of patience and resilience, after a season hampered by physical glitches, the long cut linked to the Covid-19 pandemic, and a small failure of efficiency in front of the opposing cages.

A "competitive mentality"

"Lately she has been disturbed by repeated injuries and she is coming out of a dotted season", but "she has a competitive mentality and shows a lot of qualities", besides being a "good example" for her teammates , recently slipped the ex-international Sonia Bompastor.

The current director of training for women's OL knows Le Sommer well since she was on the pitch when the young player from Saint-Brieuc, 19 at the time, was honoring her first cap against the Republic of Ireland ( 2-0), in a friendly match, on February 12, 2009, in Blois.

Since then, the number 9 of OL has gorged himself on goals and titles with his club (seven in the Champions League and ten in the French league in particular), while stacking the selections with the jersey struck the rooster, without ever lift any official trophy with the Blue.

"It's difficult, because I won everything in club and conversely, in the French team, nothing at all ...", noted in April 2019 the fifth most capped player in the French team, two months before the elimination in the quarterfinals of the world against the United States.

Career pursuit with Les Bleues

And despite this new sporting disappointment, coupled with criticisms launched a posteriori by the coach Corinne Deacon against him, the love of the blue jersey has never weakened at Le Sommer.

"Wearing the jersey means a lot to me", she explained last week, presenting as a secondary objective the fact of equaling or even exceeding the bar of 81 goals reached by Marinette Pichon in 2006.

"It was a great player and I know what it means to beat this record", nevertheless appreciated Le Sommer after her double.

But "I continue to move forward," was quick to add this fan of the selection.

Because beyond the record, the Lyonnaise sees herself especially "continuing for a long time" with the Blue, with whom she hopes to play her third Euro in two years in England.

"As long as I play, I want to be in selection", but "of course, it is not me who chooses", she slipped this week, laughing.

>> To read also: The Euro-2021 women's football postponed to 2022

Eternal beating, always smiling, the bride with 172 selections now has a new goal: to nibble her delay on the most capped Sandrine Soubeyrand (198 selects), Élise Bussaglia (192), Laura Georges (188) and Camille Abily (183) .

With AFP

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