France have been struck by further issues ahead of their World Cup final against Argentina, on Sunday, with two more players struck with illness.
Didier Deschamps has a chance to make history this weekend, as he looks to become the first manager to win back-to-back World Cups since Brazil did it in 1962.
It’ll be no easy task considering they face an Argentina side led by an extremely determined Lionel Messi, who could take a clean sweep of World Cup, Golden Ball and Golden Boot winner, if he has a storming match.
Life in Les Bleus’ camp has not been in easy in the past few days however, with a number of players being hit by an illness.
Ahead of the semi-final win over Morocco, regular starters Dayot Upamecano and Adrien Rabiot were both ruled out of the game due to illness.
The problems were blamed on England by some, but it didn’t matter in the end with France taking their chances in the game, whilst the Africans failed to do the same.
On Thursday it was confirmed that Kingsley Coman was the latest member of the squad to go down ill, despite the fact the first two players were sent to isolate on their own.
And now worse has come for the Europeans, with centre back pairing Raphael Varane and Ibrahima Konate both out of training will illnesses, according to L’Equipe.
Varane has been an absolute rock at the back for France throughout the tournament, making a recovery from an injury playing for Manchester United last month in order to have a big say.
On the other hand, Konate had not been Deschamps first choice, with Upamecano starting for the 2018 World Cup winners instead.
However, the Bayern Munich defender’s absence in the final four allowed the Liverpool centre back to start against Morocco.
Despite the fact they were under pressure for times, he formed an excellent partnership with Varane, to keep the first clean sheet of the tournament for Deschamps side.
Varane is said to only be suffering with ‘minor’ symptoms, but Konate’s are said to be more serious.
Speaking to talkSPORT, French football journalist Julien Laurens revealed that Upamecano was back in training and said Coman should also be fine.
“No it’s not that bad.
“Dayot Upamecano who missed the semi-final is back, they’re back training.
“Kingsley Coman, he’s the one with a bit of a sore throat but he was feeling better. It’s fine.
“I think Rabiot was the big loss, he would have been a big loss for the final. If he’s back, if he can come back, I think that would be a big boost.”
Despite original reports about the England team being blamed for the illness, it’s since been claimed that it’s the air conditioning in the stadiums that is causing havoc.
Whatever the reason for it, Deschamps will be hoping that no more of his team are struck down by illness in the near future.
Credit: Sports Bible
