Bengaluru: Patrice Evra anointed France as the favourites for the upcoming Euro Championships but the former Les Blues captain also felt they can be their own enemies and cautioned them against being “confident and arrogant”.
“I don’t think any country has a better squad – starting XI and bench – than France. The problem is sometimes we are too good, sometimes arrogant and sometimes too confident. I give the example of last Euro when we lost against Switzerland despite leading 2-0,” said the former Manchester United star defender in an interaction organised by host broadcaster Sony Sports where he’ll be an expert panellist.
“You know, after a goal, we started dancing and got too confident we got eliminated in penalties. So we need to be careful... because if you're too confident, or sometimes too arrogant, that's when you get a surprise. But I trust (coach) Didier Deschamps, he's someone who is really humble. And I think this is the thing he worries the most.”
When asked how France, two-time World and European champions, are able to keep churning out such world-class talents, the Senegal-born Evra attributed it to the country’s multiculturalism.
“France have an unbelievable resource because we are a multicultural and multiracial country. Like myself, you know, I grew up on the streets and you can find, I promise you, I won't exaggerate, maybe 20 Patrice Evras in any street in France.
“And why all this happened is because you've got people from, like born in Senegal, from Algeria, from Congo. So it's all this diversity and that's made France one of the strongest national teams in the world.”
Evra, who won five Premier League titles and one Champions League with Manchester United during his time from 2006-2014, termed underdogs Croatia as the most difficult team to play against.
“If you ask which team I don’t want to play in a tournament, it’s Croatia because they always create a surprise. (Luka) Modric will be playing his last tournament and maybe his team-mates can give everything for him. I think Croatia is really underrated.
“Even if you see FIFA rankings they are down but every major tournament they are doing well. They are looking for more respect and that’s why they will do their best to win the tournament.”
Evra’s long-time team-mate and friend Cristiano Ronaldo will be featuring for Portugal despite turning 39 in February. When asked if the multiple Ballon d’Or winner, rated as one of the greatest players ever, could be a burden for coach Roberto Martinez because of his star power, Evra chose to disagree.
“First of all, age is just a number. I think people need to stop mentioning age. If he's there, it's because he's got the level. Cristiano definitely would like to win again that trophy. Roberto Martinez loved the team, I had a nice chat with him. Portugal have so many players and finally you can see Martinez trusts Cristiano.
“He's not questioning Ronaldo's age or whatever, he's just looking at his form and he's going to score. So it's more an advantage than a disadvantage. I really don't understand why people question his age or whatever. I think he scored 52 goals (49 actually) in 52 games (47 actually) in the Saudi League.
“People say, yeah, the Saudi League is not the same level. Players like (Karim) Benzema or whatever, they struggled in this league. So when people talk and they not even play one game in that league. So Cristiano Ronaldo stayed the GOAT and he will be the GOAT again.”
Note: Watch UEFA EURO 2024 from June 15 Live on Sony Sports Ten 2, Sony Sports Ten 3, Sony Sports Ten 4 & Sony Ten 5.