Because of illness, both Adrien Rabiot and Dayot Upamecano were unable to take part in the World Cup semi-final against Morocco, leading Youssouf Fofana and Liverpool’s Ibrahima Konaté to replace them.
While there was no doubt that, if successful in recovering, the Juventus midfielder would return to the starting line up for the final, questions would need to be asked regarding the Bayern Munich defender’s presence following the Reds defender’s great performance a few days ago.
The Liverpool man was instrumental in France keeping a clean sheet and winning 2-0, making some timely blocks and interceptions, and looked far more reassuring than Upamecano did against England, when he was turned a number of times by Harry Kane.
The Bayern star looked jittery, and there have been some calls for Konaté to replace him in the final against Argentina.
L’Equipe look at this on Friday, and state that ‘it is not impossible’ that the Liverpool centre-back starts ahead of Upamecano after being ‘radiant’ alongside Raphaël Varane in the last game.
Right now, his chances are around 50/50, and what works in Konaté’s favour is that he is ‘fresher’, even if he did play the full 90 minutes against Morocco.
There remains question marks about Upamecano fully recovering from his illness in time, and Didier Deschamps ‘wants players at 100%’, which he knows the Liverpool player will be at.
Still, the France manager likes the Bayern defender and ‘if he has regained his form’ and ‘all doubts surrounding his physical conditions are removed’, this could ‘tip the scales in his favour’.
However, we will have to wait for that, because, right now, ‘it is time for reflection’.
