• As in 2016, M6 will broadcast eleven Euro matches live, including the final, notably with Robert Pirès in the role of consultant.

  • Twenty-one years ago, he sent David Trezeguet into orbit after coming into play in the 86th minute of the final against the Italians.

  • He now returns to the essential role of substitutes who, if they have to chomp on the bench during the competition, also have the opportunity to make history.

We all remember this tumble by Robert Pirès on the left side during the Euro 2000 final against Italy, prior to Trezegol's clapper under the helm of Toldo.

Twenty years later, the former Arsenal midfielder, now a consultant for M6, hopes that the new French generation will be able to offer us the same emotions this summer.

Given the workforce available to the French coach, including luxury liners (Coman, Dembélé, Ben Yedder) who would have their place in a good package of selections qualified for Euro 2021, it is not impossible let the light shine from the bench.

For 2

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, Pirès made the box of memories work to evoke in particular the importance for the substitutes to have an irreproachable mentality.

We may say, we may do, seeing the strength of the France team, it is difficult not to ignite. Is this also your case?

I have a speech that will perhaps be a little different from what the supporters or the journalists say.

I know that in our time, in 2000, when we were also among the favorites there, we were measured against our strength and our potential.

But we find ourselves in a bit of the same situation, with a very good team which is world champion, which is one of the favorites and which everyone wants to beat.

We must above all respect others because no one, starting with the Germans, is going to give us the slightest gift.

You have to be really careful because the Euro is really different from a World Cup, the level is higher and in my opinion it is more complicated to lift the trophy.

We have the feeling that we already know the XI which will begin against Germany on June 15 in Munich.

Is that your opinion too?

Yes I think Didier has his typical team in the lead and we can all put it down on paper today.

In my opinion there will be no worries.

From there, how should we do to best manage the frustrations of those who already know that they will not have many opportunities to shine?

If we take the cases of Coman and Dembélé, it is true that they are both holders in huge clubs like Bayern and Barça, but the France team is something else again.

Now I think things are clear between the manager and these players.

We saw it well against Wales, the players have to bring something fresh, new.

This is how a national team wins: yes, there are the eleven holders, but the players who are on the bench have an extremely important role, I know something about it for having been in this case in 2000.

Better then that the speech of the coach vis-à-vis these players could not be clearer from the start?

It's better for group life and dynamics that things are clearly explained from the start, yes.

This is what happened with Aimé Jacquet and Roger Lemerre and it contributed to our success at that time.

The replacement, he absolutely must not make the face because we are talking about the France team, there is nothing above.

That he is shouting in the club because he is not the holder, at the end of the day I want to say that it is normal and even that it can be beneficial, but not in the France team, it is 'forbidden.

Especially since they too have something beautiful to go and play if they immediately get in the right frame of mind ...

Of course we have something to play!

Not to prove, because being in the 23 or the 26 already means something, but to play, yes of course.

The replacement must start this adventure with the conviction that it is for the good of the group, he must leave with a view to bringing absolutely something when we call on him.

Because what is the end goal?

It is to be European champion.

Whether you are a substitute or a holder, it may be a bit cliché but we all have the same jersey and the same goal.

What is the role of the staff in this management of replacements?

It's a priority.

Afterwards, there is not too much to worry about I think because, in this process, Didier took these players because he knows that they will have the right state of mind throughout the competition. .

And the staff he has built has the psychological weapons to answer the doubts that could arise from some form of frustration.

They are intelligent people, super calm, who know how to find the right words at the right times, they are there to put you in confidence and make it clear that when your time approaches, you have to respond present.

Above all, you must not let the train pass, no!

This is what you were able to do in the final against the Italians.

Yet you do not leave very calm when Roger Lemerre makes you enter in place of Lizarazu in the 86th minute, are we wrong?

Let's say that, from the bench, we could see that the players were having trouble, that the Italians had neutralized us, even Zizou, we didn't see him much in this meeting.

We felt that in their heads it was bent and it rubbed off on us, except perhaps on Didier who, him, continued to believe in it.

Starting from there, when Roger announces to me that he will make me enter on the left instead of Lizarazu at the 86th, deep down I don't see what more I can bring in fact.

Because it is the Italians opposite, it really seems mission impossible.

And yet ...

And yet (laughs)!

In the end, who makes the difference?

They are the replacements, David [Trezeguet], Sylvain [Wiltord] and me.

This is the best example of what we said about the importance of these players.

They must be convinced that they can contribute something decisive.

That's what I forced myself to believe as I stepped onto the pitch, even though I might have doubted seconds before.

Wiltord brought something new, Trezeguet too.

If tomorrow Coman or Dembélé enter, and they will enter, it will be up to them to hurt the opponent, to deliver the last blow to the head.

And that's how we'll win.

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You explained in an old interview that in normal times, instead of overflowing and centering towards Trezeguet, you would have made a pass to Zidane who was three meters from you. But not that night, why?

You said it: “in normal times” I would probably have given Zizou the pass but it would not have brought much danger.

This overflow, at once, I am convinced that I must try it, I absolutely must create an imbalance.

I don't know if there will be a goal, I have no idea but I have to try.

And I might not have thought this way if I had been the holder, because less freshness in the legs, less lucidity too.

And that also comes from the coach who makes me understand and persuades me that it is the right thing to do at that time.

Too bad if it doesn't work, we're not going to blame us for trying.

The game against Wales, with the good contributions of the substitutes in the second half, still seems to be going in the right direction, doesn't it?

Yes because Coman and Dembélé have shown that they have just the right mentality.

This is why I say that they have already perfectly integrated their role, they know that it is Mbappé, Griezmann and Benzema who will start and that Didier will call on them at some point.

That's what's going to happen and they need to be mentally prepared for it.

Whether it's the 60th, 80th or 90th, who cares.

You enter, you provoke, you try.

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