winning return for Marie-Antoinette Katoto after a year and a half of convalescence

Absent since her cruciate ligament injury in her right knee at Euro 2022, the striker made her return to the France team on Friday, coming on and scoring against Austria.

A successful return. For her first international cap since July 14, 2022 and her rupture of the cruciate ligaments in her right knee which kept her sidelined for more than a year, Marie-Antoinette Katoto returned to the selection but also to the net on Friday December 1st in Rennes. The Paris Saint-Germain striker scored the third French goal in the victory against Austria (3-0), heading in a Selma Bacha corner.

“We spoke before the match with Selma and as fate would have it, she was the one who left me a cake. She did the hardest part, I just had to finish”, enjoyed the 25-year-old player in the mixed zone. Her broad smile at the moment of celebrating her goal, celebrated with all her teammates in the Rennes clamor, was both the striking image of the evening and an event of enormous importance for the person concerned.

Not yet 100% but already decisive

Before kick-off, his name had clearly been chanted by the stands of Roazhon Park – unlike some of his partners – at the time of the presentation of the teams, but Marie-Antoinette Katoto had taken his place on the bench at the start of the game . Despite “a hesitation” by Hervé Renard to establish her, the Parisian finally replaced Kadidiatou Diani, discreetly during the break.

“We know that she is not at 100% but it is good to have a taste again at international level. There is a gap between the championship, the Champions League and international matches. This allows her to also measure progress what remains to be done”, judged the coach at a press conference. However, the one who still felt this week that she would not reach her peak form “before February-March” delivered forty-five minutes of very good quality for his first steps with the Blue since the last Euro. Often sought after at the heart of the game, “MAK” was the fixation point which allowed his partners to take the space behind the Austrians.

“I don’t think there’s any need to talk too much with Marie. She feels the game and I try to adapt to her. She is a player who knows how to keep the ball, we saw it very well this evening and she is capable of getting into the box. We complement each other and I hope that we will both be able to continue to help the team.”estimated Eugénie Le Sommer, who slipped onto the right wing after the entry of the Parisienne.

“I need to play and I will continue to work”

For the main interested party, who now has an impressive record of 27 goals in 33 caps, this return is “a great step forward”. “There are a lot of new things and I had lost my bearings a little but it went well with the staff and the players. I wasn’t really prepared to be here so early but I’m really happy. The coach did everything to put me at ease, he communicated a lot, a lot with me and I think that unconsciously that helped me”she reported after the meeting.

While the French team qualified for the Final Four of the Nations League with its victory, Hervé Renard announced that he would “presumably turn” next Tuesday against Portugal, in a match without stakes. Substitute today, Marie-Antoinette Katoto could therefore continue. “I’ve been playing a lot since I came back, she commented in a tone that showed a certain astonishment. But it’s not any worse. I need it and I will continue to work. I don’t worry about the pressure, the statistics, the matches. I’m trying to get my feelings back.” In full possession of her means, the 25-year-old scorer could well become an essential element of the Blues again between now and the Olympic Games.