All eyes will again be on Kylian Mbappe when France take on Spain in Paris on Tuesday (8pm, ITV4).
The 18-year-old Monaco striker has taken Ligue 1 and the Champions League by storm this season, and earned an international debut in Saturday’s 3-1 win over Luxembourg. While he insisted on Telefoot that he remains “a young boy in a squad of great players”, the hype from other sources is becoming deafening.
Chief among them was his national team coach Didier Deschamps, who said this month he sees “details” of France great Thierry Henry in Mbappe’s game.
And the youngster has made a big impression on one opponent in particular. Spain striker Diego Costa told Telefoot: "If he continues to progress at this rate, he is a phenomenon. He is a killer in front of goal, and has very good dribbling skills. I hope he continues on his current path."
Antoine Griezmann is another player to have earned Costa's respect and the Chelsea frontman added: "He is a great player.In addition, there is N'Golo Kante who plays with me at Chelsea. They are a team with many talents, which makes them dangerous."
National team
Nevertheless, Costa would still find room to recall Karim Benzema, exiled from the national team since allegations that he played a part in a blackmail plot against team-mate Mathieu Valbuena.
“I don’t know what really happened,” said Costa. “But Benzema is Benzema, it’s hard to leave out a world class player. For the sake of football he should be in the squad.”
Costa left Sunday’s Spain training session early due to an ankle injury and is a major doubt for the game. He was reportedly unlikely to start the friendly in any case, with coach Julen Lopetegui rotating his squad and giving starting berths to Alvaro Morata, Iago Aspas and Costa’s Chelsea colleague Pedro.
For France, defender Adil Rami dropped out of the squad on Sunday with a calf injury and was replaced by Athletic Bilbao’s Aymeric Laporte.
The full-back positions are also proving problematic, with Djibril Sidibe following Bacary Sagna in leaving the squad, and Benjamin Mendy also nursing an injury following Saturday’s win over Luxembourg.
Late call-ups
Late call-ups Sebastien Corchia and Christophe Jallet will battle for the right-back berth, with Layvin Kurzawa the likeliest option on the left.
Umtiti, who joined Barcelona in the summer, is looking forward to facing the best Spain has to offer.
“Playing against one of the biggest nations in football, it’s more than a friendly for sure,” he said of opponents who won three major tournaments in a row from 2008 to 2012. “Spain have been one of the best teams for years, we know their quality.”
Spain have won 15 of the 34 previous meetings between the sides, with France winning 12.
