Deschamps assigns bodyguards to shield Mbappé from Paraguay's rough play
France manager Didier Deschamps revealed he instructed two of his tallest players to guard star forward Kylian Mbappé during the latter stages of a heated match against Paraguay, fearing the forward might be injured by aggressive tackling.
Speaking after the game, Deschamps said the Paraguayan players were repeatedly targeting Mbappé with crude challenges, causing him to stumble multiple times. To counter this, he deployed defenders Dayot Upamecano and midfielder Adrien Rabiot to stand near Mbappé in the dying minutes. “I asked the two biggest lads to go and stand around Kylian at the end because they were going to chop him down,” Deschamps said.
Upamecano, a burly centre-back, was pushed forward to bear the brunt of the tackles aimed at Mbappé, performing his mission without receiving a yellow card. Rabiot, known for his physicality, also provided protection as Mbappé was dragged off his feet repeatedly.
Deschamps acknowledged that France managed to keep their composure despite the difficulty. “It wasn’t easy. They used every resource possible. It is maybe not the kind of football that brings people to the stadium, playing with that aggression, exaggerating everything,” he said.
He refrained from criticising the referee, who did not issue a single card to any Paraguayan player. “I am not going to criticise the referee, but we finished the game with three bookings, and yet there were a lot of things going on. We stayed focused on our game. It was difficult; they had lots of men behind the ball, and they defended well,” Deschamps said in his post-match press conference.
The French manager also avoided criticising Paraguay’s tactics. “I won’t criticise Paraguay. Every team can play however they want, but I could do without the insults. The most important thing is that there were no incidents at the end. But all that matters is that we have qualified,” he said.
Deschamps believes the experience will benefit his squad. “This experience will help us. After all, we have a lot of players who are playing at their first World Cup. I wouldn’t say it had been easy for us up to now, but now we have had a different type of game,” he said.
France now turn their attention to recovery ahead of the quarter-final clash against Morocco on July 9 in Boston. “Morocco are one of the best teams. We played them four years ago in Doha, and they also got to the Africa Cup of Nations final. We have a few days now to recuperate. We have some tired players and a few little knocks too,” Deschamps said.
