• OL face PSG this Sunday (5 p.m.) in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final.

    This highly anticipated shock will be played in front of around 20,000 spectators in Décines.

  • A major player in the Lyon squad for ten years, Amandine Henry has not yet been called up to the France team since November 2020 by Corinne Deacon.

  • 20 Minutes

    looks at the sporting level displayed this season by the 32-year-old midfielder, in particular with Patrice Lair and Fabrice Abriel, coaches of Bordeaux and Fleury in D1.

Did Amandine Henry experience the last cape of her career with Les Bleues on November 27, 2020 against Austria (3-0)?

The OL midfielder may only be 32 years old, but this prospect seems very likely as long as Corinne Deacon is at the head of the France team, as will still be the case for Euro 2022 in England.

Like the long crossing of the desert of Karim Benzema with the group of Didier Deschamps, before an improbable patching up for Euro 2021, there is little doubt that the systematic non-convocations of Amandine Henry at Clairefontaine go beyond the explanation of athletic performance.

But ultimately, while the player with 93 caps could still play a valuable role with her club, this Sunday (5 p.m.) in the Champions League semi-final first leg against PSG, does she still have an international level? ?

“Amandine remains an OL executive and this may still be the case for one or two more seasons, believes her former coach in Lyon and Paris Patrice Lair, now coach of the Girondins de Bordeaux.

I find her always efficient to break lines, place her headers, and set the right tempo within the best workforce in Europe.

She remains at least in the Top 5 of the most successful midfielders in the championship.

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“She never disappoints”

Due in particular to the physical glitches of Damaris Egurrola (22 years old) and Danielle van de Donk (30 years old), Amandine Henry is also the midfielder most used by Sonia Bompastor this season in D1 (15 games played, 1 goal), as well as in the Champions League (8 games and 2 goals).

“She never disappoints, and at the start of the season, when it was necessary to help out in central defense, she held the house, appreciates Willy Pasche, vice-president of the OL Ang'Elles supporters group.

The club must show her respect for everything she has brought, as must be the case for Eugénie Le Sommer, Sarah Bouhaddi and Dzsenifer Marozsan.

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Under contract until 2023 at OL, where she won a whopping 12 D1 and 6 European Cups, Amandine Henry can count on the support of Sonia Bompastor, her ex-partner who has become her coach.

“Amandine brought us a real plus tonight, she is a player on whom I count and in whom I trust”, she had for example indicated, on March 31 against Juventus (3-1), to underline his successful entry into play at half-time, in place of Damaris Egurrola.

“She has less impact in the game than in 2019”

However, there is no unanimity on the performance of the now former tricolor captain, especially during the 2019 World Cup in France.

“I find that she has less impact in the game than in 2019, when she was really everywhere on the pitch, indicates Fabrice Abriel, who faced her on Sunday in D1 as coach of Fleury (1- 2).

She now projects herself less into the opposing area, she remains more like a real sentinel.

She remains an experienced player capable of making others play well rather than trying to put herself forward.

But I feel her less in the preferential circuits of her team than in the past.

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And if the former midfielder from Lorient, OM and OGC Nice was in Corinne Deacon's place, would he call Amandine Henry back?

“As a torchbearer, I prefer Grace Geyoro [PSG] who brings more power, speed and projection.

In number 6, Kheira Hamraoui [PSG] regulates the game well too, but if I decide to play with two midfielders, Amandine Henry can enter this selection.

She is a very intelligent player who knows how to free up space for her partners.

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“We make sure to support him on a mental level”

How does the native of Lille live her year and a half away from the France team?

“She is inevitably affected, confides Patrice Lair, who has remained close to her.

She would have liked to end her career with a first international title and unfortunately that is not the way to go.

It's a shame because she could still lend a hand to the selection.

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Asked about the subject after the Champions League quarter-final second leg against Juve, Sonia Bompastor admitted that it was a major challenge for OL: "We make sure to support him mentally because it's necessarily a disappointment for her not to be called up for selection.

We try to put everything in place so that she accepts this situation and that she bounces back and moves forward with us.

Amandine Henry will have a golden opportunity this Sunday to show all of Europe that she remains a potential international.

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