MY ACCOUNT
Eduardo Camavinga backed Kylian Mbappe to deal with the added pressure after Karim Benzema was ruled out of the World Cup for France.
Didier Deschamps’ side start their title defence in Qatar against Australia in Tuesday’s Group D clash, but Les Bleus will do so without two key attacking figures.
Christopher Nkunku tore the lateral collateral ligament in his left knee after Tuesday’s collision with Camavinga in training, before a thigh issue on Saturday for Benzema ruled the talisman out of the tournament.
France, who were already without Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kante, still have a plethora of attacking options with Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann, Olivier Giroud and Ousmane Dembele the likely starting contenders.
Real Madrid midfielder Camavinga believes Mbappe will step up in the absence of Benzema, given the 23-year-old is already used to dealing with pressure for both France and Paris Saint-Germain.
“Kylian can do it. He is used to having everything on his back. He’s used to receiving this pressure,” Camavinga said.
“I’m not worried about him. On a day-to-day basis, he seems at ease, and calm.”
The attacking burden may fall upon the shoulders of Mbappe, who has scored the most goals (43) in Europe’s top five leagues in 2022), but Camavinga does not expect France to lower their expectations.
“No, not necessarily, we also have a lot of big players in the squad. There are other leaders in the squad too,” he added. “We’re not going to lower our objectives. Of course, it’s a hard blow.
“But we’re not going to rest on that. We’re going to continue to fight with the big squad that we have.”
France centre-back Ibrahima Konate echoed team-mate Camavinga’s sentiment as he urged Les Bleus to battle through injury issues in the Middle East.
“It hurts us. It’s a hard blow for the French team but our objective doesn’t change, it’s always the same,” the Liverpool defender said.
“That’s part of football. We have to deal with it and move on, not look back. We have a match coming up very quickly. If we start looking at these things, it could be complicated.”
