“He follows his path and we French people love it”

Suddenly, his face lit up. “Oh Vian ‘!” Behind his screen, Didier Deschamps had been waiting for a few minutes for Vianney to connect. One in Clairefontaine, in the middle of the Free kick, this design room where the players of the France team have fun around an electronic basketball board, a table football, a billiard table or even a poker table. The other in the premises of JDD after recording a broadcast on RFM, two floors down.

Their unfeigned complicity immediately unleashes the conversation, causing it to drift into the private sphere or their busy topicality. “I saw your thing, not all of it”, slips Deschamps about the recent one Rendezvous in unknown land in Afar country in which Vianney participated. “It was incredible,” blows this one. The two men apologize for their digressions and promise to continue “afterwards, in July”. Winks well supported …

The discussion quickly turns to the Blues. A Blue: N’Golo Kanté, who radiated with Chelsea in the Champions League final. “Like what, when he does not have gastro in the final, he is present”, laughs Vianney, referring to the failure of the middle in Moscow on July 15, 2018. “Hey yeah”, agrees Deschamps, who says to prepare “the freezer” so that the mascot of the France team arrives in good shape against Germany: “It doesn’t look like, but he’s 30, the little guy. We think he’s still 20, but he’s moving forward too. ” The thirty-something artist laughs and promises not to be too intrusive, even if he itches to know how the reinstatement of Karim Benzema went.

A relationship born of a song during the 2018 World Cup

When we suggested the idea of ​​having them converse before the Euro, the two residents of the Top 50 JDD favorite personalities of the French (Vianney 18th, Deschamps 22nd) had validated without reservation. And had contacted each other to formalize. The health crisis and their schedules complicated the plan of a meeting.

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I represent the federation and the blue, white, red jersey, so I cannot be totally myself

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The friendship between the quinqua apostle of winning and the successful singer with a rugby tropism may seem counter-intuitive, it is fluid. A generation (twenty-two years) separates them but roots (the Pyrénées-Atlantiques) and values ​​unite them. Common relations, especially (Nagui). The genesis of their meeting is blurred by their fear of saying too much, but it could be summed up as follows: after attending a Blues match at the 2018 World Cup, Vianney had composed a refrain for their small group of friends. The melody and the personalized lyrics had touched Deschamps. Who had made it his daily hymn. “Vian ‘only found out afterwards.” But he had sent her a thank you text. “In the middle of the World Cup, although we had not met until then, specifies Vianney. The coach who was setting a whole country on fire was talking to me about a song, I was hallucinating a little. There, I thought to myself: well, actually, he looks pretty relaxed. “

In fact? Deschamps teases:
“Be honest.
– Didier, I already told you. What I perceived, and what I love about you, is what journalists must hate: staying straight on a line that you set yourself without being intimidated. Without hatred or violence. It is not jargon, no. But since it does not deviate, it is boring for the camp opposite. Didier is a tracer: he follows his path and we French people love it.
– Yeah, yeah, the important thing is to have a guideline and stick to it. The framework can evolve. What I shared with Vian ‘, our families, our friends, are relaxed moments. When I am in office, I am 100% in control. It doesn’t prevent me from being natural, but I know that every gesture, every word can be interpreted. I represent the federation and the blue, white, red jersey, so I cannot be totally myself.
– The team, the group… That’s what pisses the journalists off.
– Sometimes the media can think and report certain things which do not correspond at all to reality. But they have an influence. That’s why I care so much about what’s going on internally. This is the first thing I said to the players: there is going to be some commotion around and not much is enough… “
Like a post-match statement from Olivier Giroud …

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I make sure to involve the players to have their feelings before making the decisions

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Son of a soldier, the author of Father in law detects “a notion of service in the job of a coach”. And that, “that [le] key “necessarily.” I do not know if this is the right word, nuance Deschamps. There is a responsibility, yes. The self comes after. We are there to share emotions, like you in your job. You write and you put it in shape, but it is through what people will feel that this pleasure will be more important. “Hyperactive jack-of-all-trades that we cannot imagine appearing in the playlist of the ambianceurs of the Blues, the interested party has broadened his palette by integrating the cast of The Voice. He is also a coach now. At the Deschamps, we haven’t lost a thing. “At home, it’s the meeting”, assures DD, who room: “I looked at the young boy who arrived. It’s not funny for the others, the candidates all want to come with you. You had to cut in the edit? “

Then, seriously, he draws a parallel with his own dilemmas at the time of choice. “You too,” he said, “you make decisions that are not obvious. When a candidate is eliminated, you have to be positive: ‘It’s good that you have come this far, go on, you have something.’ ‘Yes, but he’s leaving… “Vianney asks if he’s transparent with his players about match strategies. “I make sure to involve them in order to have their feelings before making the decisions, answers the technician. If they are not convinced of certain things, the images and the data come to support the analysis. The exchange! And I don’t just talk about interviews, I don’t really like this conventional situation. We are together 24 hours a day, it happens to me before a workout, when I have a coffee, at breakfast, after dinner, in the weight room, in the locker room… I couldn’t stand it if there was no internal flame. At the table with my staff, it’s a moment of sharing. We are not just here with our noses in the plate. “

In football as in song, “there is not only one way to success”

Vianney bounces:
“You know what? It’s like you: internally, there is a lot of stuff that you don’t see. The time it takes to talk to candidates, make sure they leave with confidence I am convinced that I would have sucked in their place.
– Besides, you didn’t do that and it worked for you. Fortunately, there is not just one path to success. You told me about N’Golo Kanté; he did not have the course of the great majority of the players. He was not in a training center, he went through the National … It also happens in your profession, right? “

The songwriter-adventurer-trainer nods. The clock is ticking. Half past twelve. The Blues will sit down to eat. “If I tell them to respect the schedules and the coach arrives late, that’s not going to do it”, smiles Deschamps. The hugs are virtual, the pleasure of having exchanged was real. Before getting up, the world champion calls out to his young friend: “Don’t forget, you have a mission. What you did three years ago, I am waiting to listen to it every day. I count on your inspiration. ” It is undoubtedly reciprocal.

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