Euro 2012 News: Blanc rules out Diarra and faces trouble
Latest from France is that the 25 year old defensive midfielder for France Lassana Diarra has been ruled out of the Euro 2012 qualifiers.
The Real Madrid midfielder Diarra has been a constant performer despite rumours that the new French coach Laurent Blanc was not exactly happy with his performance. Blanc on the other hand had countered allegations against being prejudiced with the player, saying that he admired his skill and that is why he is in the team.
Now however, Blanc will have to say his goodbyes to Diarra as the player has succumbed to an injury on his right leg. Blanc has stated that he is extremely disappointed with the development and feels sorry for him. He also said that he had no replacement for him because no one could provide the package of abilities that Diarra possessed.
He expressed that all players had different abilities and therefore were special in different ways. Diarra had the unique ability to play on a number of defensive positions and that was one of the reasons for his inclusion in Diarra's squad.
The official announcement of Laurent Blanc’s condition came just hours ago, in a press conference, when it was declared that the player was hurt after the Real Madrid match against Mallorca (which was a 0-0 draw).
Scans after the match showed that the French player got a pretty bad blow on his right leg and can thus not play in upcoming matches. Diarra joined Real Madrid last summer and since then has been part of 43 matches and has scored 1 goal.
Blanc, who has replaced the infamous coach Raymond Domenech confirmed that he had added Lille’s midfielder Yohan Cabaye and Lyon’s defender Anthony Reveillere to his squad. He clarified that with the plans in his mind for the tournament he needed two players to bring on instead of one.
Blanc said that Diarra presented him with the option of versatility and therefore he could play him at a number of defensive positions and change game plans, now however he will face difficulty in doing that.
While talking to media the former French player stated, “Lassana can cover two areas, defensive midfield and possibly right-back”. The 44 year old manager added, “That is why it was deemed useful to call on a right-back and a defensive midfielder”.
Diarra played the whole match for Real Madrid against Mallorca last Sunday and even though it did seem like he was facing some discomfort it couldn’t have dawned upon anyone that the player would be ruled out of qualification stages of the tournament.
Reveillere was also in the FIFA 2010 World Cup squad. His inclusion in the team means that now Blanc has 10 members of the squad that failed miserably in the tournament in South Africa.
This was something that Blanc had been trying to prevent but has no options. Cabaye the other youngster in the team has already played with Blanc as made his debut for France against Norway on the 11th of August. The game also happened to be the first game Blanc was in charge of.
France is drawn in Group D along with Romania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Belarus, Albania and Luxembourg. Their first match will be against Belarus on 3rd September and 4 days later they will encounter Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Blanc is on a mission to restore the image of French football in the eyes of the world after the 2006 finalists were humiliated in the World cup.
In the World Cup, France was knocked out from the Group stages, they drew their first match against Uruguay after which they were thrashed 2-0 by Mexico. In the last match they were supposed to make a comeback and qualify for the Last 16 stage but South Africa defeated them 2-1.
Still this wasn’t their lowest level of humiliation in the tournament as a new version of the French mutiny broke out in the team. Nicholas Anelka abused coach Domenech during the match against Mexico and as a punishment the coach sent him back to France.
The whole team reacted to this with Captain Patrice Evra being particularly enraged. They boycotted the practice session the next day and the situation got so out of hand that the President of France Nicholas Sarkozy had to intervene. But not for long, as FIFA threatened him to back out on the basis that no government involvement could be tolerated in football. Now the whole dilemma is being assessed by the French Football Federation.
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