Rabiot and Pavard against Pogba, Mbappe against Greizmann, Giroud against Mbappe, Varane against Pavard, Mandanda, Lloris and Sissoko against Mbappe, Rabiot’s mother against Mbappe and Pogba….What a mess! After a sensational exit from the EURO 2020, the French national team is falling apart from within, as tension between players (and their families) are beginning to surface. Obviously, the tensions in the squad were suppressed due to victories, but one serious defeat against an outsider opened the Pandora’s box. Wanga seeks redemption against Gor Mahia after Leopards lossWhen Karim Benzema came back to the French team ahead of Euro 2020, the main story was will he blend in with the rest of the squad and will he get along with Olivier Giroud, considering his comments from years back. It turned out that it was an unnecessary worry – things got worse between other players and Benzema stayed clean. There has been so many tensions between players during the tournament, that we should at least try to untagle them and do it as methodically as we can, but it seems that Kylian Mbappe and Paul Pogba are in the center of it all, for various reasons. 🇫🇷⚽️ EURO 2020 – Premières images de la dispute entre la mère de #Rabiot et celle de #Pogba.Elle a reproché à la mère de Pogba la perte de balle sur le 3ème but #SUI, et a accroché les familles de plusieurs joueurs.(RMC / TF1) #EURO2020 #FRA pic.twitter.com/7ILmwMmOIf— Hugo & Quentin (@HugoQuentin44) June 30, 2021 Kylian Mbappe against Giroud, Rabiot’s mother, Griezmann, and veteran players Ok, let’s start with a friendly game with Bulgaria, when Giroud commented that he could have scored more than two goals, but didn’t had enough balls passed at him, referring to Mbappe. The PSG forward was furious with the comments, and publicly admitted he was affected by them. As per L’Equipe, that was the border line for Mbappe, who became ’sulk’ and annoyed with hotel facilities and family restrictions, which was not received well with veterans like Steve Mandanda, Hugo Lloris and Moussa Sissoko. His relationship with fellow attacker Antoine Griezmann was also far away from friendly, with L’Equipe claiming that Mbappe was ‘jealous’ of Griezmann, who enjoyed a good campaign, unlike his Barcelona role last season. Two players also had different opinion on Benzema’s return to the squad, as Mbappe supported the decision. In the aftermath of the Swiss loss, Veronique Rabiot, mother of midfielder Adrien, reportedly told Mbappe’s father to ‘reframe his son and make him less arrogant’. Veronique didn’t stop there, but went further and criticized Paul Pogba, asking his family how he could have lost possession in midfield before the Swiss team countered and found the back of the net.Mbappe after missing the decisive penalty: “I failed, the sadness is immense”Paul Pogba against his team mates and Rabiot’s motherVeronique Rabiot’s wasn’t alone in her comments about Pogba’s performance. To the public eye, the Manchester United midfielder had a good EURO, and many were asking how come he doesn’t play that good in Premier League. But his teammates tend to disagree. According to French Football News, players were involved in rows during the defeat in Romania, more precisely, Rabiot and Pogba insulted each other throughout the match, with the Juventus star unhappy with the Man United midfielder’s defensive workrate. Benjamin Pavard later blasted Pogba for not contributing defensively and Varane is said to have sided with Pavard during this exchange. On the other side, Real Madrid defender also critisized Bayern defender for his defensive errors. The journalist also counted Pogba’s tackles during the Switzerland game – 0, while Kante had 6. Paul Pogba was also moaning about the facilities (but he was not alone). He asked for the squad to stay 50 kilometers away in Gardony at a facility that overlooks a lake. However, the French remained at the Marriott where they are understood to have felt confined as a result of the bedroom windows not being openable. The squad were also said to have been disappointed in being unable to see their families for much of the tournament.In all this mess, France supporters still think manager Didier Deschamps is the right man to handle the disrupted squad. RTL/Odoxa have produced a poll on the matter of how the French public feels about Didier Deschamps and the result is overwhelmingly positive: 77% of French people and 78% of French football fans want Didier Deschamps to remain as manager.
