Eduardo Camavinga on Kylian Mbappé as captain: “He hasn’t changed.” | OneFootball

The headlines after France’s 4-0 drubbing of The Netherlands on Friday night were all about Les Bleus’ newly-crowned skipper. On his first with the captain’s armband, Kylian Mbappé’s stepped up and scored a brace – one goal at the end of each half – as well as an assist for his vice-captain Antoine Griezmann at the very start of the match, in what was a triumphant return to action for the World Cup finalists.

Appearing before the press in the mixed zone after full-time, Eduardo Camavinga – who came on as a substitute for his Real Madrid teammate Aurélien Tchouaméni with 15 minutes to go – was notably asked about the PSG man’s dressing room influence.

The former Rennes man, his remarks transcribed in RMC, insisted that Mbappé was still the same free-scoring forward with or without the captaincy. He also gave a brief insight into the forward’s words to his teammates in the build-up to the game, and at half-time:

“Before the match, he told us to play well in the opening minutes. At half-time, he told us to carry on, and that if we needed to score six, then we’d have to score six.”

When asked about the overall atmosphere in the dressing room, Camavinga pointed out that it was similar to the World Cup: “There were lots of young players at the World Cup as well. I wouldn’t say the atmosphere has changed.”

“We didn’t concede, we were all together. We have another match on Monday [against Ireland], it’ll be important to do the same.”

GFFN | Raphaël Jucobin