There weren't many doubts about the manager's intentions.
Didier Deschamps logically placed his trust in nine world champions this Wednesday at the Stade de France, on the occasion of the reception of Ukraine, the presumed toughest opponent in this group D of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers. Blues will be articulated in a 4-4-2 scheme similar to that set up in Portugal on November 14, 2020 (1-0), with clear success.
The only small surprise in this composition lies in the tenure of Kingsley Coman in place of Paul Pogba.
Returned to competition less than a week ago with Manchester United, the latter logically lacks pace after an absence of more than a month due to a problem in the left thigh.
He had only entered during the match against AC Milan, before holding the Cup against Leicester on Sunday.
Griezmann equals Vieira
In this system, we find, in front of Lloris, the irremovable French captain with now 121 selections (two lengths from Thierry Henry the dolphin of Lilian Thuram) a quartet composed of right to left Pavard, Varane, Kimpembe and Hernandez.
One step higher, make way for the Kanté-Rabiot association.
The right lane will be entrusted to the Parisian Kylian Mbappé, finer trigger of the L1 (20 goals in 25 games) and the left to Kingsley Coman, the scorer of the Champions League final against PSG (1-0).
The two men could also switch during the match.
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The attacking duo is formed by Olivier Giroud, second best director in the history of the Blues (44), and Antoine Griezmann.
The Barcelona equal in passing Patrick Vieira by playing his 44th match in a row with the Blues.
No other international has done so well since the postwar years.
After Ukraine, the Blues move Sunday March 28 to Astana in Kazakhstan before facing Bosnia, three days later, in Sarajevo.
The composition of the Blues:
Lloris (cap.) - Pavard, Varane, Kimpembe, Hernandez - Mbappé, Kanté, Rabiot, Coman - Griezmann, Giroud.