Eight European winners lift France mood before World Cup | OneFootball

France head to the World Cup with eight European trophy winners, a lift that feeds belief but offers no guarantees. Their early physical work has been demanding.

According to L'Équipe, five Paris Saint-Germain players won the Champions League, Ousmane Dembélé, Désiré Doué, Lucas Hernandez, Bradley Barcola and Warren Zaïre-Emery. Lucas Digne lifted the Europa League with Aston Villa, while Maxence Lacroix and Jean-Philippe Mateta won the Conference League.

Eight from a 26-man squad is rare, with only two national teams doing better this century. Spain arrived at the 2018 World Cup with nine European winners from Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid and went out in the last 16. In 2000, Türkiye took nine after Galatasaray’s UEFA Cup triumph and fell in the quarter-finals.

Winning in May does not ensure success in July, and long European runs test bodies. PSG’s rotation in Ligue 1 has helped keep some players, including Dembélé, relatively fresh, and confidence currently looks stronger than fatigue, in the view of mental coach Pier Gauthier.

Didier Deschamps has cooled the mood, noting that praise after March wins over Brazil, 2-1, and Colombia, 3-1, has grown into a euphoria he treats with caution. He dismissed talk of France already being at the 19 July final, stressing the need to keep working before flying to the United States, rather than simply turning up on 15 July.

Not everyone finished the club season well, and Deschamps sees an international reset. Gauthier argues there are no certainties and preparation must be tailored, with Kylian Mbappé’s situation different to Dembélé and Doué, while any disappointment could fuel a push for the World Cup.

Source: L'Équipe