Didier Deschamps reacted on Wednesday (25th May) to the loss of injured Raphael Varane from his Euro 2016 squad. The France manager explained why Adil Rami has been chosen as a replacement.

"Of course it is a hard blow losing Raphael, but after all, I have to think about the group, the team, regarding deadlines selecting the squad."

"Because I consider that for the high level, having two central defenders left footed, for me, is not viable. So, necessarily this is to the detriment of Samuel Umtiti, with whom I talked and explained the situation."

"He had a great season with his club of Sevilla, and he has, even if it's quite a long time ago now, he has at least an experience of the international level. He has 26 caps for the French team, so he knows the international level, even if a while ago."