Didier Deschamps Explains Why He Dropped Liverpool Star For France Vs Austria

William Saliba, according to Didier Deschamps, was “more ready” than Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate for France’s Euro 2024 match against Austria.

Saliba has frequently struggled to get regular starts at the international level, despite playing a significant role in the Arsenal team that has placed second only to Manchester City in each of the last two Premier League seasons.

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But for France’s first group stage match against Austria on Monday, the 23-year-old was selected alongside Dayot Upamecano of Bayern Munich in an unexpected center-back duo. Upamecano, too, has come under fire for his club play from the previous season.

Deschamps’ choice proved to be the right one as France won 1-0 and maintained a clean sheet. Saliba and Upamecano together made 12 clearances and 9 recoveries and were only dribbled past once.

Deschamps describes decision-making from the center out.

Deschamps was questioned about the decision to leave Konate out of the starting lineup despite the defense’s impressive showing. Konate, 25, recently concluded a season with Liverpool in which he made 37 appearances in all competitions.

Deschamps, who has said in the past that Saliba does things he “doesn’t like,” however, supported his choice and stated that he believed Saliba was “more ready” than Konate for the task.

“The reason I chose to play William Saliba instead of Konaté is that I believed he was more prepared for this kind of match.” We will need everyone, so I don’t want to lose anyone either,” Deschamps stated to reporters (via Get French Football News).

Even though they could have done a better job on several clearances, Saliba and Upamecano, who together have played for the France national team for just 120 minutes, have the capacity to be very strong in one-on-one situations. They emanated strength and composure. That was necessary against a foe like that.

France face a difficult task in their next Group D match as they face the Netherlands in Leipzig on Friday.