Shelved by Didier Deschamps during the World Cup, Benjamin Pavard took advantage of his tenure on Monday to win the France team in Ireland (1-0).
And suddenly, the dedicated song of Benjamin Pavard began to resonate from the small north stand of the Aviva Stadium in the 50th minute of the match between Ireland and France, Monday March 27. “Benjamin Pavard, I don’t think you know. He comes out of nowhere, a bastard strike, we have Benjamin Pavard!“, intoned the 2,905 French supporters present in Dublin. Without this goal, it is not sure that the French team would have left Ireland victorious.
For Pavard, this goal is a story of redemption, but above all a question of mutual trust with coach Didier Deschamps. At the start of the meeting, the right side had to dive back internally into the past few months and realize that his tenure on Monday was not obvious a few weeks ago. Very good with Bayern Munich since the start of 2023, the Frenchman with 48 caps still has his World Cup in mind.
In Qatar, Pavard started the first match as a right-back starter against Australia and made a very average copy. Then nothing. Not a minute more on the lawns of Doha. Pavard goes through the whole competition like a ghost, present and committed to training, but aware that he will no longer be aligned. The Munich resident spends most of his time with Olivier Giroud, his great friend in the France team. Despite his personal disappointment, he always kept the good state of mind towards the group.
Three high-class goals with the Blues
Pavard made a name for himself as a full-back during the 2018 World Cup, with this famous “bastard strike” against Argentina in the round of 16 of the competition (4-3). But he has never hidden it, he wants to evolve in the axis of defense, as with Bayern. While his summons was far from certain, Deschamps nevertheless made things clear when announcing his list on March 16.
“There, he knows it well, as he knew at the World Cup, it is first for a right-back position“, then assured the coach, after having specified to have”discussed a lot [avec Pavard] before the World Cup, during and after too. We’re not going to go back on that, it’s a thing of the past.”. The fact remains that Deschamps agreed to trust him again, and that Pavard did not balk when replaying as a full-back.
This mutual trust was felt on Monday in Dublin, with this sudden and overpowering strike. Pavard has only scored three times with the Blues in 48 caps, but each time with choice goals: the half-volley against Argentina, a whipped volley against Sweden in November 2020 (4-2) and this heavy strike came to hit the crossbar of Gavin Bazunu before returning.
“I’m here for the collective”
Is this goal a revenge for him? “No. It’s true that not everything went as planned [au Mondial] but I’m here for the collective. If the coach didn’t call on me, it’s because he thought there was someone better than me. There, I had the opportunity to play, it worked for me and I scored more. Afterwards, the role of a defender is to defend well. So much the better, I’m happy and I hope it will continue like this”said Pavard at the microphone of La Chaîne L’Équipe.
Not a word higher than the other so as not to irritate his coach, who slipped a few in his ear during a hug between the two, when Pavard left in the 81st minute. “I told him that I was happy for him. He had known less happy times. He is there, even if it is not exactly his register, it is he who allows us to win the match. Any player can have a difficult period, it does not mean that I take away their confidence and it is up to them to maintain themselves at the highest level at the club.“, explained Deschamps to the microphone of TF1 after the match. This Monday, March 27, the man with the “bastard strike” may have definitively relaunched his story in the France team.