Pranav Kannan
Manchester United defender Raphael Varane reacts after France’s win against Denmark
Manchester United centre-back Raphael Varane has taken to Instagram to express his happiness after having made a successful return from injury in France’s impressive win against Denmark in the World Cup last night.
Varane who missed France’s World Cup opener against Australia was fit enough to start the game against Denmark. The Manchester United centre-back played 75 minutes against the Danish country and put in a solid performance.
The France – Denmark game was an absolute joy to watch from a neutral’s perspective with both teams playing some extremely attractive football. Ultimately, Les Blues emerged as 2-1 winners thanks to a brace from Kylian Mbappe.
France did concede one goal though which was from a corner that Barcelona defender Andreas Christensen turned in. However, despite that, Man United centre-back Varane had a pretty solid game for Didier Deschamp’s team.
It was not like Varane was spectacular by any means. It was a fairly generic performance from a centre-back who is solid on most days. The former Real Madrid man is likely to get better as time goes on which is understandable when returning from an injury.
The 29-year-old defensive ace recorded two clearances and won just one of his three aerial duels. He did not have any clearances or interceptions and managed to complete 32 out of his 38 passes. He did not have the best of stats but he was largely untroubled at the back, too.
He replaced Liverpool’s Ibrahima Konate in the line-up despite his impressive showing in the 4-1 win against Australia. Perhaps Deschamps’ values Varane’s experience – and rightly so.
Varane was happy with his performance for Les Blues and expressed his joy on Instagram (translated to English)
“Nice win tonight!! Qualified for the next round… Come on Blues!”
France have broken the World Cup curse of the defending champions not making it out of the group in the next tournament and despite all the injuries, are really looking like the team to beat at least going by early form.
More Manchester United News
- Newcastle United line up bid for Manchester United target and France striker Marcus Thuram
- Graeme Souness tells Manchester United and Portugal star Bruno Fernandes to improve attitude to “go up another level”
- Liverpool unable to afford England star and Manchester United target Jude Bellingham from Borussia Dortmund
If Les Blues are to defend their title, there is no doubt that Varane will be crucial to their chances. He did it in 2018, and the question is, can the Manchester United man do it again in 2022?
