This international break has certainly been a memorable one for Liverpool centre-back Ibrahima Konate, for a variety of reasons.
The in-form defender, widely considered to be one of the best players during Arne Slot‘s brilliant first few months as head coach, reported for duty with France last week by wearing an extraordinary outfit that was quickly trending on social media.
Konate‘s fashion statement was apparently a response to colleague Julien Kounde’s penchant for putting on skirts and heels at their national team’s training base, Clairefontaine.
Read more: ‘WTF’ – Konate’s bizarre fashion stuns Liverpool teammates
Fortunately for France, the pair also impressed in more traditional kit, when Les Bleus defeated Israel 4-1 ‘away’ – actually on neutral ground in Budapest – last Thursday night.
Both players were on the pitch for the full 90 with Kounde at right-back, while Konate outperformed William Saliba at the heart of the defence.
The media’s London bias would have us believe Saliba has formed ‘the best centre-back partnership in the Premier League’ with Gabriel Magalhaes, despite the table’s goals-conceded column – Arsenal 6, Liverpool 2 – strongly suggesting otherwise.
CAPTAIN KONATE
Konate was again the better defender as he and Saliba helped France to beat Belgium 2-1 in a much more difficult UEFA Nations League match on Monday night.
What’s more, Ibrahima also ended up proudly wearing the captain’s armband for the final 14 minutes after starting skipper Aurelien Tchouameni was sent off for a second bookable offence.
Saliba gave away a penalty when the score was still 0-0 but the Arsenal man was spared further embarrassment when Aston Villa midfielder Youri Tielemans fired his spot-kick over the bar.
IBRAHIMA IN SHOCK
This was the first international break since France’s talismanic forward Antoine Griezmann announced his retirement from the team.
In an interview with the Telefoot TV programme, Konate revealed he was receiving treatment at Liverpool’s training ground when the news broke 16 days ago.
“I was in the physio room at the club in Liverpool, and there was the physio who came to see me and said: Antoine Griezmann has retired from international football,” said Konate.
“I told him to stop talking nonsense and then I watched TV and I was shocked. It’s sad and I think he would have deserved a better goodbye.
“If we had known with the players and with the public, we would perhaps have done something.”
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