after a day of rest with family, the Blues prepare for Belgium

Les Bleus have six days to recover and prepare between their match against Poland and the round of 16 against Belgium on Monday.

Less laughter, more concentration, the Blues began preparation for their round of 16 against Belgium with training open to the media, Thursday June 27. They had spent the day before with family, to rest after an intense group phase during which they played all four days. With two additional days of recovery before the match against the Red Devils, they will be able to work in front of goal to try to resolve their clumsiness.

Family walk in the city of Paderborn for William Saliba, bowling for Kylian Mbappé and his loved ones… Didier Deschamps had planned a day of rest the day after the match against Poland, to regenerate bodies and minds. But from Thursday, the Blues were back to work, with fairly intense training for the substitutes from the last meeting, who were joined by Kylian Mbappé and Jules Koundé for split running exercises at the start of the session. Were they fresher than the other starters for this, or did they need it more than them? Everyone has their own interpretation.

The other starters in the match against Poland had a fairly light session, with a jog and then some stretching, although Aurélien Tchouameni extended the fun a little by running more. They then watched their teammates face off in a half-court match of eight against eight, with the orange team (made up of Brice Samba, Eduardo Camavinga, Benjamin Pavard, Jules Koundé, Warren Zaïre-Emery, Kingsley Coman, Olivier Giroud and Marcus Thuram) winning 7-2 against the blue team (Alphonse Areola, Ibrahima Konaté, Jonathan Klauss, Ferland Mendy, Youssouf Fofana, Antoine Griezmann, Randal Kolo Muani and Kylian Mbappé).

During this opposition, Antoine Griezmann, less relaxed than usual, and Kingsley Coman, who seemed in good shape, made a good impression. Kylian Mbappé, bothered by the heat under his mask, and in long sleeves, was more of a spectator of the game, and not very active. Training ended with a shooting session from the edge of the area for Kylian Mbappé (1/3), Antoine Griezmann (6/9), Eduardo Camavinga (0/3), Jonathan Clauss (0/3 ), Warren Zaire-Emery (0/3) and Jules Koundé (1/3).

While the lack of efficiency of the Blues has raised questions since the start of the Euro, Dayot Upamecano had allayed any concerns earlier in the day at a press conference: “Everything is going well, we are qualified, training is going very well, we will have more time to prepare for the next match, we are in a very good state of mind, we all want to go as far as possible in this competition”. In line with what Didier Deschamps said after the match against Poland.