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Euro 2020 Squad: France

The France National Football Team

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On 18th May, France manager Didier Deschamps announced his 26-man squad for the European Championship and there are some surprising names in the squad, including a re-call for Real Madrid star Karim Benzema.

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France are certainly one of the favourites to lift the European Championships trophy at Wembley in July after their phenomenal campaign at the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Didier Deschamps has gone with the same goalkeeping options that he went for during the international friendlies. Tottenham Hotspur’s Hugo Lloris remains France’s number one goalkeeper and is joined by Mike Maignan of Lille and Steve Mandanda from Marseille, both of whom have played a crucial part in their club’s recent success and completely deserve their spot in the team.

 

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Lucas Hernandez, Benjamin Pavard (Bayern Munich), Lucas Digne (Everton), Presnel Kimpembe (PSG), Clement Lenglet (Barcelona), Raphael Varane (Real Madrid) and Kurt Zouma (Chelsea) all got called up again to shore up the defence. The list includes the young defender Jules Kounde from Sevilla and right-back Leo Dubois of Olympique Lyonnais who get their first international call up for cup competitions. 

After another brilliant season with Chelsea, N’golo Kante eases his way into the 26-man squad in midfield alongside Paul Pogba of Manchester United, Thomas Lemar (Atletico Madrid), Moussa Sissoko (Spurs) and Tolisso (Bayern Munich). After being dropped off their World Cup squad back in 2018, Adrien Rabiot (Juventus) makes his way back into the team. Big names like Tanguy N’Dombele, Dimitri Payet and Houssem Aouar have all been left out.

 

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The French attack is more or less the same with some new additions which could really help them get on the scoresheet early in the competition. Barcelona duo, Griezmann and Ousmane Dembele along with Wissam Ben Yedder (AS Monaco), Olivier Giroud (Chelsea) and Kingsley Koman (Bayern Munich) makes for a potent attack with French wonderkid Kylian Mbappe. Sadly, there is no place for Manchester United’s Anthony Martial, who made way for Borussia Monchengladbach’s Marcus Thuram who has been a lethal striker for his side all season long. 

The big story though is the return of Benzema after missing out on international football since 2016 due to his alleged involvement in a plot to blackmail his international teammate Mathieu Valbuena. The Real Madrid striker had a fine campaign with 22 goals and 8 assists in his 32 league games and has rightfully earned his place back in the squad.

 

[Image Credit: Equipe de France de Football]

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