77: this is the number of matches missed by Florian Thauvin in the France team since his last selection in June 2019 during a victory in Andorra (he scored 1 goal and provided 1 assist). It is under the combined effect of Bradley Barcola's package, but also the absences of Ousmane Dembélé, Désiré Doué, Rayan Cherki, and Randal Kolo Muani, that Lensois could therefore end this series this month.
If he were to come into play on Friday against Azerbaijan, or three days later in Iceland, Thauvin will break the record for the largest gap between two matches played in blue. This shows how far he has come. And the ex-Marseillais measures it better than anyone: “it's almost like a first selection because I've been going through difficult stages all this timehe told the FFF media this week. If someone had told me when I got up this morning (Monday) that I would be there this evening… It's incredible, a bit difficult to realize. I was so far from the Blues at one point.»
The Blues are delighted with the return of Thauvin
Among the players called up for the French team during this gathering, Thauvin is nevertheless the fifth oldest behind Lucas Digne, who arrived in 2014, Adrien Rabiot and Kingsley Coman, called up in 2016, or even Kylian Mbappé, who showed off his international stripes three months before him, in March 2017. “He’s had a good start to the season, I’m happy for him. We did the photoshoot together and you can see he’s a good guy.”confided Jean-Philippe Mateta about it on Wednesday at a press conference.
At William Saliba, the same excitement: “he arrived the day before yesterday, it's nice to have him with us, confided the Arsenal defender. This is my first selection with him since he was there before I arrived (Saliba arrived in 2022, editor’s note). It's nice to see players who haven't been called up for a while come back. He won the World Cup, he will bring us.» As revealed in certain photos posted by the FFF on its social networks, “Flotov” was also able to find his long-time friend, Kylian MbappĂ©, with whom a real relationship was born during the 2018 World Cup. A connection too rarely seen on the field, but which the two men could perfect this evening against Azerbaijan, at the Parc des Princes.
