FRANCE head coach Didier Deschamps has expressed his pride in leading his team to the Qatar 2022 World Cup final, where they will face Lionel Messi and Argentina on Sunday.
Les Bleus defeated Morocco 2-0 last night to advance to their second consecutive World Cup final, and Deschamps is keen to stop Messi from realising his ambition of topping up an amazing career with the most coveted prize in football.
The 35-year-old Argentina captain has announced that this will be his last World Cup and the trophy is the only one missing from his glittering collection of major silverware for club and country.
“Messi wants to win the World Cup before retiring but we will do everything we can to make sure that doesn’t happen, the only thing we know is that one of the shirts will put on a third star,” Deschamps said last night, referencing the fact that both France and Argentina are going for their third world title.
Argentina won the World Cup in 1978 and 1986 but lost in the 1990 and 2014 finals, while France were champions in 1998 and 2018.
Messi was captain of the 2014 squad and this is his second final in three World Cups, while Deschamps was involved as France captain in 1998 and coach in 2018.
“Messi has been fantastic since the start of the competition. Now he’s got a striker and he’s got a lot of freedom, he’s got a lot of play, he looks very fit,” Deschamps added.
The Frenchman admitted that Morocco gave his side a tough time last night, but he was ‘proud’ of his players.
“I am always proud when I achieve results like this, it is great to have got through to the final on Sunday,” said Deschamps during his post-match press conference.
“It was not an easy victory, we showed our quality and experience and team spirit, we had to dig deep in the challenging moments in the match and as coach I am very proud and pleased with my players. I don’t really think about myself but, of course, I appreciate the fact we’ve had this success.”
Deschamps is the fourth manager to lead a team to back-to-back World Cup finals, after Vittorio Pozzo with Italy (1934 and 1938), Carlos Bilardo with Argentina (1986 and 1990) and Franz Beckenbauer with Germany (1986 and 1990).
