Six years after their last visit to Marseille, the Blues are back this Friday at the Stade Vélodrome. At 9:15 p.m., the French team welcomes Côte d’Ivoire for a friendly match, launching a rich year 2022 which will end with the World Cup in Qatar. The Ivorian selection, not qualified for the competition, will rub shoulders with the Blues deprived of Benzema, but with the return of Giroud as well as three new ones.
Didier Deschamps will have to recompose an attack line usually occupied by the irremovable trio formed by Griezmann, Benzema and Kylian Mbappé. Called up for the first time since the Euros, Giroud is applying to be the third man, but competition from Wissam Ben Yedder and novice Christopher Nkunku is blocking his horizons.