Didier Deschamps has announced his squad for the friendlies against Brazil and Denmark at the end of March. There was a lot of speculation regarding who he would pick since the last friendly against Sweden in November.
The main question was regarding the inclusion of Lyon’s Nabil Fekir after he choose France over Algeria earlier in the month, and the 21-year-old as well as Geoffrey Kondogbia and Chelsea’s Kurt Zouma were the most interesting choices.
League leaders Lyon have four players in the squad, with Captain Maxime Gonalons joining Christophe Jallet, Fekir and Alexandre Lacazette.
Paul Pogba misses out through injury, he had to come off during Juventus 3-0 win over Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday night. Young full backs Lucas Digne and Layvin Kurzawa also miss out although they both played against Sweden.
Here is the squad in full:
Goalkeepers: Hugo Lloris (Tottenham/ENG), Steve Mandanda (Marseille), Stephane Ruffier (Saint-Etienne)
Defenders: Bacary Sagna (Manchester City/ENG), Christophe Jallet (Olympique Lyonnais), Laurent Koscielny (Arsenal/ENG), Mamadou Sakho (Liverpool/ENG), Patrice Evra (Juventus/ITA), Raphael Varane (Real Madrid/SPA), Benoit Tremoulinas (Sevilla/SPA), Kurt Zouma (Chelsea/FRA)
Midfielders: Blaise Matuidi (Paris Saint-Germain), Moussa Sissoko (Newcastle United/ENG), Morgan Schneiderlin (Southampton/ENG), Maxime Gonalons (Olympique Lyonnais), Geoffrey Kondogbia (AS Monaco), Dimitri Payet (Olympique de Marseille)
Forwards: Karim Benzema (Real Madrid/SPA), Olivier Giroud (Arsenal/ENG), Alexandre Lacazette (Olympique Lyonnais), Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid/SPA), Nabil Fekir (Olympique Lyonnais), Mathieu Valbuena (Dynamo Moscow/RUS)
France play Brazil on March 26 at the Stade de France and then on the 29th against Denmark at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard.