Thuram: "Deschamps was more importnat than Zidane in 1998-2000"

The 41-year-old reflected on his success with France and believes Deschamps' impact was unrivalled, and underlines the differences between his former team and Spain
France legend Lillian Thuram says former team-mate Didier Deschamps was more integral to the French national team's success than Zinedine Zidane.

All three played a prominent role in France's World Cup and European Championship glory in 1998 and 2000, but Thuram believes the contribution of Deschamps is unparallelled to any other - even their famous number 10.

"Deschamps is a great coach. He was a great player, he has won everything and he knows what it takes to get to the top," he said.

"In World Cup 1998 and in Euro 2000, we had a genius in the form of Zidane, but the key was Didier."

Deschamps, now coach of the national team, welcomes Spain to Paris on Tuesday in a key World Cup qualifier which could determine who secures automatic World Cup qualification.

And Thuram, who ended his playing days in Barcelona, went on to highlight what he believes to be the fundamental difference between France and the European Champions.

"To play football and win, you need players who have can use their heads," Thuram said.

"When I arrived in Barcelona, I enjoyed playing with people balanced and normal: [Carles] Puyol, [Victor] Valdes [and Andres] Iniesta. This is because they are not footballers who think they are the centre of the world.

"The French, however, have forgotten how to be humble. The humility to understand that when you play for the France team, it is something much more important than your own self."
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Pretty stern words for their compatriots

In 98 i agree as i said many times Zidane was out for most of the tournament lol.

2000 i'm not so sure, Zidane pretty much ran that tournament despite the quality he had around him that was a performance worthy of any generation.

None the less Deschamps was a very important player for those teams no doubt.

The Titanic has sunk.

Valdes balanced and normal, that is pleasantly surprising. I bet he grows mushrooms as well. His remarks about Deschamps being more important than Zizou is less stern but more a truthful statement.

The stern part was directed at "The French, however, have forgotten how to be humble. The humility to understand that when you play for the France team, it is something much more important than your own self."

That's pretty damning.

I saw that more as funny considering it's the French who are usually stereo-typically arrogant and here is Thuram saying they aren't humble.

Maybe the question is when are they ever humble?!

BarrileteCosmico wrote:The stern part was directed at "The French, however, have forgotten how to be humble. The humility to understand that when you play for the France team, it is something much more important than your own self."

That's pretty damning.

Hardly surprising during the Euros Benzema, Ribery and Nasri would just pass amongst themselves and ignore a team mate even if he was clear in loads of space.

I think this is just nice words for Deschamps, a friend backing a friend.

People have forgetten, France's biggest strength in those years was actually their defence...it was rock solid, and Deschamps was a protector of that defence so I get where Thuram is going with it.

But in truth, they were not winning it without Deschamps or Zidane..but they also aint winning it without Thuram either, but he is too humble to say so...and you could probably include other players they aint winning without.

yeah... Barthez was the best keeper in the world then and was perfect in the wc in 1998. the defense was Thuram-Blanc-Dessailly-Lizerazu and Deschamps and Petit to cover. In 2000, i think Thuram went central and Sagnol came in at RB.

Any way you look at it, WC at all those positions.

The Nature Boy wrote:

What a legend

gunnerlistick wrote:

The Nature Boy wrote:

What a legend

absolutely