After validating its ticket for the 2026 World Cup thanks to its great success over Ukraine (4-0) last Thursday, the France team completed these qualifiers with a victory in Azerbaijan (1-3) on Sunday. A meeting for which Didier Deschamps decided to completely change his eleven and thus give the opportunity to those who have less playing time to show themselves.
Substitute against Ukraine, Ibrahima Konaté therefore started in Baku, with the captain’s armband around his arm. Considered a pillar of the French defense a few months ago, the Liverpool defender was overtaken in the hierarchy by Dayot Upamecano and William Saliba. A situation that he experiences badly.
During an interview with Téléfoot on Sunday, Ibrahima Konaté did not hide his frustration at having been left out of the starting eleven. The former Leipzig player nevertheless remains combative and intends to regain his place before the World Cup. And he knows that this will require good performances with his club, which has not been the case since the start of the season.
Konaté: “My goal is to give the coach a headache”
“I had a bad experience with that. It’s football, it goes very quickly. Last year, at the same time, I could be considered an indisputable starter. Today it’s a little different. The individual and collective club form which will play a big role. If I look at the record with the Blues, a match or two put me in this situation », Confided the 26-year-old defender.
And Konaté clarified: “ There is Croatia where it must be said, I was very bad. And there is Spain, we have to put it into context, there were a lot of players missing. It’s hard to take it into consideration, but everyone, the coach, the supporters, the media took it into consideration. It was this match that put me in this condition. We have to continue to work and my goal is to give the coach a headache. »
