Former France defender William Gallas believes Les Bleus have nothing to fear ahead of their World Cup quarter-final clash with England.
France face England nextGallas praises Declan RiceBut tips France to win
WHAT HAPPENED? France and England meet on Saturday in Qatar. Former Chelsea defender Gallas has looked ahead to the match and says he’s been impressed by Declan Rice but feels the defending champions will simply have too much for the Three Lions.
WHAT THEY SAID: “No one scares me in this England team. I’m not scared about one player, but Declan Rice is in England’s squad and no one is really speaking about him – he’s unbelievable,” he told Genting Casino. “He does the same thing with West Ham and I don’t know why he’s still there. For a long time, I’ve not seen a midfielder like him – he’s strong, powerful and technically he’s unbelievable. I’m more scared about England’s midfield three than just one player.”
AND WHAT’S MORE: Gallas is also backing Mbappe to get the better of England right-back Kyle Walker. “Kylian Mbappe is a clever boy and he’s faced Kyle Walker before and I think he’ll find the solution to win that battle,” he added. “For the first 85 minutes, Kyle Walker could be on top in the battle but maybe in the last five minutes, Kylian can score the winner at any time and everyone will say he won the battle [against Walker]. As I said, Mbappe is a clever boy so I’m sure he’ll find the solution to beat Kyle Walker.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE: Mbappe heads into the match as the tournament’s top scorer with five goals so far and knows all about Walker from his Champions League clashes for Paris Saint-Germain against Manchester City. Walker came out on top in their last meeting with City winning 2-1 back in November 2021.
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DID YOU KNOW? France have only lost one of their last eight meetings with England across all competitions (W5 D2), a 2-0 defeat in a friendly in November 2015. This is the two nations’ first encounter since June 2017, when Les Bleus won a friendly 3-2.
WHAT NEXT? The victors will take on one of Spain, Morocco, Portugal or Switzerland in the World Cup semi-finals.
