The great architect of the Blues’ invincibility, Mike Maignan, described as “the cream of the crop” by his teammates

Mike Maignan has made fifteen saves and has only conceded one goal, from a penalty, since the start of the Euro.

“Guys, we have Mike, huh!”Marcus Thuram told his teammates before the penalty shootout in the quarter-finals against Portugal, proof of the serenity that the goalkeeper brings to his teammates. Because if the Blues reached the semi-finals of the Euro without conceding a goal in play, their goalkeeper bears a large part of the responsibility. Against Spain, Tuesday July 9, he will try to keep his goal clean in the hope of reaching the final of his first competition as the number 1 goalkeeper of the French team.

Bruno Fernandes and Vitinha must still remember the two masterful interventions by Mike Maignan to deflect their shots in the quarter-finals. Two saves that add to the thirteen other saves made in this Euro. “A big, big thank you to Mike. When we’re not doing our job, he’s there to save us.”greeted William Saliba after the match against Portugal. “We have a very great goalkeeper, he’s the cream of the crop. We’re very good defensively, sometimes they still manage to get through, but we have an extraordinary goalkeeper, that helps us win matches.”added Aurélien Tchouameni.

A leader through his performances on the pitch, Mike Maignan, although shy by nature, is also a leader in the locker room, where his influence has been greater since his arrival as number 1 goalkeeper after Hugo Lloris’ retirement. His teammates also say that his face changes as the match approaches. “He has the switch on D-Day and in his eyes, we know that he will be there, he is someone who wants to tear everything up in his path”assure Alphonse Areola and Brice Samba, who can only recognize the superiority of their partner and competitor.

“With the tone of voice he has, he is listened to more than the norm, and the fact that he does not speak all the time, when you hear his voice, it clicks. There is a great silence, you see in his eyes that he is the launching pad.”

For his defenders, the Blues goalkeeper does not hesitate to speak out. “He talks a lot, gives a lot of information. He is attentive to what is happening in front of him, and for a defender it is extremely pleasant to have a goalkeeper who guides you to that extent. He reminds you when you are three meters behind and encourages you when you are well positioned.”appreciates Jonathan Clauss.

Precise with his foot, responsive on his line, Mike Maignan is a complete goalkeeper who has also made penalties one of his specialties. He also introduced himself to professional football by stopping a penalty in his first two games with Lille in 2015, and has since stopped 21% of them in official matches. Against Poland in the group stage, he stopped Robert Lewandowski’s first attempt, who had the opportunity to shoot a second time since the goalkeeper had not kept a foot on his line during the interrupted run of the Pole.

And while he failed to stop a Portuguese effort in the quarter-final penalty shootout, Kylian Mbappe is convinced he played a role in Joao Felix’s shot hitting the post. “When you’re a shooter and you know you have a goalie who can get it, you try to get the angle, and sometimes the angle is the post. Today (Friday) We had some luck, but he had an important part in all of that, because beyond the penalties, his match was great.”stressed the captain of the Blues. If Mike Maignan has not yet received a man of the match trophy since the start of the Euro, he is perhaps the man of the tournament in the eyes of his teammates.