Speaking at France’s press conference this afternoon, defender Dayot Upamecano notably discussed his impressive performance in yesterday’s 4-1 win over Australia, in which he cast away any doubts after what had been an initially shaky start to his senior international career so far.
The Bayern Munich defender, his words transcribed by RMC, spoke about his line-breaking passes throughout the match, explaining that “playing quickly going forward, creating imbalance” are part of his game.
He went on to lament Lucas Hernandez’s injury early on in the game but pointed out that a player like Ousmane Dembélé or Kingsley Coman would be more suited to deputising at left-back than himself, even if the decision would be down to Didier Deschamps. Dembélé, who was also at the press conference, laughed off the suggestion – “I don’t think so… We would concede a lot of goals! Dayot is very good as a left-back. You would have to ask the coach.”
Upamecano added that he was getting advice from his vice-captain Raphaël Varane, with the Manchester United defender in the squad but still recovering from a thigh injury he picked up a month ago.
On the Germany team’s pre-match gesture earlier today – covering their mouth in protest at not being allowed to wear the “One Love” armband by FIFA – he indicated that “I haven’t seen the gesture, I was napping. I won’t go into that area, what I’m interested in is the game and nothing else.”
GFFN | Raphaël Jucobin
