Gentle warm-up for the Blues the day after France-Belgium

The substitutes took part in a fairly fun session on Tuesday, while the starters were given a rest, three days before the quarter-final against Portugal.

They took advantage of the only clearing of the day. After hours of deluge and depression in Paderborn, the French team returned to the pitch of its training ground, in the Home Deluxe Arena. Only 12 players who had not played a single minute the day before against Belgium touched the ball. “The eleven starters for the France-Belgium match, as well as Randal Kolo Muani, stayed at the base camp for a session à la carte: indoors, in the swimming pool, cycling, balneotherapy, physiotherapy, cold bath, sauna, treatments”explained the staff of the French team.

Even Adrien Rabiot, suspended for the quarter-final, did not put his nose outside. For his part, Kingsley Coman was not present. The Bayern Munich winger had to go to Sweden to join his partner who is due to give birth soon. During this session in a reduced committee, and under the eyes of the president of the FFF Philippe Diallo, the two replacement goalkeepers, Brice Samba and Alphonse Areola, stood out. “Frame, frame!”shouted assistant Guy Stéphan to the players, the day after a match that ended with two shots on target in 20 attempts. Ousmane Dembélé and Benjamin Pavard were the most precise in the cross-strike exercise, which Didier Deschamps took part in as a defender.

Les Bleus finished with a six-to-six match. The orange team, made up of Brice Samba, Olivier Giroud, Eduardo Camavinga, Ousmane Dembélé, Ibrahima Konaté and Jonathan Clauss, won 9-7, with a madjer from the latter as a conclusion. The vice-world champions only have one session left in Paderborn on Wednesday. They will head to Hamburg the day before the match where a final training session should allow Didier Deschamps to decide on his team composition.