France has great team spirit: Frank Leboeuf

Bengaluru: Proud winner of a World Cup and European Championship in France colours, Frank Leboeuf knows what it takes to be a winner.

The former Chelsea defender believes that, despite all the issues that has marred the country and the team going into Euro 2016, the hosts have what it takes to lift the title on their home soil once again. A long 16 years after their previous triumph.

“The offensive part of France is very productive. We have lots of players who can play and it makes it difficult for the coach to select,” said Leboeuf in an exclusive telephone interview with this newspaper.

“France were under pressure in their opening game so it’s going to take another game before the best players start to do their best. I think the team has a great spirit and Didier Deschamps has worked hard to make sure he had a good squad. There is a good atmosphere inside the squad which is very important if you want to win something,” explained Leboeuf.

Ask him about favourites and he says: “France, Germany, Spain and Italy, I think are the favourites because they have the quality we expect from them. They look like they can go on and win the championship,” he added.

Having played the game at the highest level, Leboeuf’s analytical mind kicks in.
“Croatia, England and Poland (are the dark horses). The English team had a good game against Russia and the fact that Wayne Rooney came out changed the game. Croatia dominated Turkey and Modric seems to be at his best form. Poland, less than a year ago defeated Germany for the first time, and they have a good squad. Their first game was quite enjoyable. They were dominating and showing that they wanted to go forward,” he stated.

‘No reality in Benzema allegation’
Meanwhile, there has been much debate over the high-profile omission of Karim Benzema from the France squad with the Real Madrid forward claiming racial discrimination over his exclusion.

A vast majority has brushed off the claims pointing out Benzema’s impending sex-tape blackmail case as the issue and Leboeuf reiterated the same. “I think the comment by Benzema has nothing to do with reality. I know Deschamps for a long time and one of his best friends is Marcel Desailly and Marcel is black. Another close friend is Zinedine Zidane (who is Algerian by descent). So a comment like that it doesn’t reflect the reality of the situation. I don’t want to comment too much on it because for me it’s a non issue.

“Of course Benzema is a fantastic player and he will be missed but there is a justice problem for him and as long as it is not sorted out, it is difficult for him to join the national team,” said the Frenchman who is a pundit on ESPN FC, an analysis programme on European football leagues in the channel which has also launched ESPN.in besides a mobile app earlier this month.

“We have been a country which was invaded a lot in our history and there isn’t anybody coming from outside in France. When we won the World Cup in 1998, we were all friends who played for each other.

“Nobody cared if anyone was black, red or blue. We just wanted to play football. We have a team with players from different origin and we are happy with that,” he pointed out.