Grieving Deschamps to miss France match against Denmark

Record ID: 1675222

  • Title: Grieving Deschamps to miss France match against Denmark
  • Date: 2nd June 2022
  • Summary: SAINT-DENIS, FRANCE (JUNE 2, 2022) (REUTERS) FRANCE GOALKEEPER, HUGO LLORIS, WALKING ONTO PITCH FOR TEAM TRAINING SESSION FRANCE STRIKER, KARIM BENZEMA (RIGHT), WALKING ONTO PITCH BENZEMA, LLORIS AND TEAM MATES SPEAKING ON PITCH AHEAD OF TRAINING SESSION FRANCE SQUAD GATHERED ON PITCH FRANCE ASSISTANT COACH, GUY STEPHAN, WHO IS FILLING IN FOR HEAD COACH DIDIER DESCHAMPS, SPEAKING TO FORWARD, KYLIAN MBAPPE MBAPPE AND TEAM MATES, INCLUDING BENZEMA, WARMING UP STEPHAN ENTERING NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRANCE ASSISTANT COACH, GUY STEPHAN, SAYING: "I have had Didier (Deschamps) regularly on the phone since Tuesday. He is obviously affected by the grief that is hitting him, but he is strong. He will not be here tomorrow. He will be back soon. You have to respect his grief; he is with his family, who need him." LLORIS ENTERING NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRANCE GOALKEEPER AND TEAM CAPTAIN, HUGO LLORIS, SAYING: (ON DESCHAMPS ABSENCE) "Yes, it was a rather unique week, for the reasons you have just mentioned. I think, on preparations for the match, things went very well. We feel that the players are listening. Guy and all the staff have this habit of putting the players in the best condition. Of course, we miss him, our main leader, and his absence will be quite particular tomorrow, but for us, we have to do things as well as possible and play a good match." LLORIS TRAINING WITH OTHER GOALKEEPERS VARIOUS OF MIDFIELDER, AURELIEN TCHOUAMENI, WARMING UP FOR TRAINING SESSION SQUAD INCLUDING MBAPPE, BENZEMA AND TCHOUAMENI WARMING UP TCHOUAMENI PLAYERS RUNNING PASSING DRILL SQUAD PASSING BALLS AND WARMING UP TCHOUAMENI, BENZEMA, MBAPPE AND TEAM MATES STRETCHING WIDE OF STADIUM AS FRANCE SQUAD WARMS UP (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRANCE GOALKEEPER AND TEAM CAPTAIN, HUGO LLORIS, SAYING: (ON CHAMPIONS LEAGUE INCIDENT AT THE STADE DE FRANCE) "What we have seen in France this season at some stadiums is not good publicity for our country and even less for French soccer. So, I hope the issues will be resolved by all those responsible, even if this Champions League final didn't depend solely on the French. It's not what we want to see in soccer, it's above all a spectacle and we like it when it's well organised. We love when we feel safe as players, our loved ones, our families, our friends.” (SOUNDBITE) (English) DENMARK COACH, KASPER HJULMAND, SAYING: (ON CHAMPIONS LEAGUE INCIDENT AT THE STADE DE FRANCE) "Yeah, I expect everything to be alright tomorrow. I expect everything to be in perfect condition and I haven't thought about it. So, we are looking forward to the match. We don't have any worries at all." HJULMAND AT NEWS CONFERENCE HJULMAND ON PITCH DURING DENMARK TEAM TRAINING SESSION / HJULMAND SPEAKING WITH DENMARK GOALKEEPER, KASPER SCHMEICHEL SCHMEICHEL DENMARK DEFENDER, CHRISTIAN ERIKSEN (RIGHT), JUGGLING BALL WITH TEAM MATES SQUAD GATHERING FOR HUDDLE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PITCH HJULMAND GIVING INSTRUCTIONS ERIKSEN RUNNING A DRILL, FOLLOWED BY FORWARD MARTIN BRAITHWAITE ERIKSEN, BRAITHWAITE AND TEAM MATES RUNNING DRILL SQUAD RUNNING DRILL DEFENDER, ANDREAS CHRISTENSEN (FRONT RIGHT) AND TEAM MATES RUNNING DRILL CHRISTENSEN (RIGHT) KICKING BALL WITH TEAM MATES DENMARK PLAYERS TRAINING IN STADIUM
  • Embargoed: 16th June 2022 19:22
  • Keywords: Denmark France Hugo Lloris Kasper Hjulmand Stade de France
  • Location: SAINT-DENIS, FRANCE
  • City: SAINT-DENIS, FRANCE
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Europe,Soccer,Sport
  • Reuters ID: LVA001233602062022RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: France coach Didier Deschamps will miss their first Nations League match against Denmark following the death of his father, assistant coach Guy Stephan said on Thursday (June 2).
    Stephan has run the team's training sessions this week in the absence of Deschamps.
    France face Denmark at the Stade de France on Friday (June 3) in the first of four Nations League matches in 11 days.
    Stephan did not say whether striker Karim Benzema, who ended his outstanding season with Real Madrid by lifting the Champions League trophy in the French capital on Saturday (May 28), would be involved in the match.
    Friday’s Nations League match will be played in the same stadium that was marred by chaotic scenes outside the stadium before and during the Champions League final.
    Despite that incident, Denmark coach Kasper Hjulmand said he expects everything to run smoothly on Friday.
    (Production: Clotaire Achi, Yiming Woo, Kurt Michael Hall)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2022. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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