France defeated Belgium in Brussels in matchday 4 of their Nations League campaign. Randal Kolo Muani’s brace was the difference for Didier Deschamps’ men. Les Bleus survived a late bout of pressure from Belgium with a player shy considering Aurélien Tchouaméni was sent off in the final fifteen minutes. Real Madrid logically received a second booking in preventing Youri Tielemans from a one-on-one with Mike Maignan. Tchouaméni became the first France captain to receive his marching orders since Zinédine Zidane’s infamous headbutt against Italy’s Marco Materazzi during extra-time of the 2006 World Cup final.
With Tchouaméni exiting the pitch, Liverpool centre-back Ibrahima Konaté has been given the skipper’s armband. Konaté already wore it in the dying minutes of France’s game against Israel on Friday in Budapest when Tchouaméni was being replaced in injury time by PSG midfielder Warren Zaïre-Emery, thus becoming France’s 133rd captain in its rich history.
The fact Konaté inherits the skipper’s armband in back-to-back competitive games for France – with the likes of Mike Maignan, Jules Koundé or Ousmane Dembélé overlooked despite having more international experience – speaks volumes about Deschamps’ faith in the Liverpool centre-back. The latter himself backed his candidacy to fill in in the absence of Kylian Mbappé.