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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Will Lancaster

Every France player at risk of missing World Cup final as illness leaves FIVE key men on brink of Argentina heartbreak

France's fans were lucky enough to escape a World Cup scare despite a bout of illness ravaging their squad by beating Morocco on Wednesday - though deja vu seems to have struck for Les Bleus.

Marching into the tie as clear favourites, three cases of illness hit the squad to leave Didier Deschamps somewhat unsettled - especially given that he had lost Christopher Nkunku and Karim Benzema to injury in between selecting the squad and venturing on the plane to Qatar.

Morocco, as well as they did throughout the tournament, were undoubtedly the weaker side in the semi-final, and although they did themselves incredible amounts of credit, they were no match for the reigning world champions. But Argentina will be a sterner test for Deschamps' side - and it's been made a lot tougher withtwo more illness bouts on top of their current ones heading into the final. Record Sport tells you who they could be missing ahead of the final showdown.

Raphael Varane

Manchester United star Varane has featured in as many games as possible throughout the tournament, only failing to take part in the campaign opener against Australia in the first few days of the tournament. However, his experiences in the tournament could count for nothing should he miss out on the final against Argentina.

Ibrahima Konate

Both centre-backs woke up with mild cold and flu-like symptoms this morning, thus undergoing a 24-hour quarantine period - meaning they will be at risk of not starting for the biggest game of Liverpool star Ibrahima Konate's career so far. Benjamin Pavard or William Saliba would be the ones to replace them in the starting lineup should they be deemed not fit enough to start.

Dayot Upamecano

Similar to Varane and Konate, Upamecano is another defender who is plagued with the same illness that is going around the French camp. The Bayern Munich star was unavailable for the 2-0 drubbing of Morocco on Wednesday evening, albeit he wasn't missed with Varane and Konate out of action.

Of course, those two will no longer be available, and boss Didier Deschamps will be sweating on Upamecano's return to action if he is to curb Julian Alvarez, Lionel Messi and the rest of the attacking contingent that Lionel Scaloni's men have to offer.

Kingsley Coman

Coman is the fourth player who had come down with the illness. The Bayern star, who admittedly was quite the way down the wing pecking orders with the likes of Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele and Marcus Thuram all ahead of him in the pecking order.

However, going into the semi-final, it meant that players further down the squad list were used, such as Randal Kolo Muani...could Coman's exit have been a blessing in disguise?

Adrien Rabiot

The final of the five to have been hit with illness over the past week, Rabiot has been an extremely curious case over the past three seasons. Having moved to Juventus from Paris Saint-Germain in 2019, he received pelters for his form at the Allians Stadium with Juventus slipping away from the summit of the Serie A table.

But Rabiot has since been a man reborn over the past half year, battling his way back into France's setup before starting at this year's World Cup in a bustling midfield role. He was a slight miss for the game against Morocco - and against a much stronger team in Argentina, Deschamps will be sweating on his fitness.

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