Zinedine Zidane has praised Lucas Da Cunha’s contribution to France’s midfield after the 25-year-old started both of their Nations League matches during the international break.
France began the break with a 1-0 victory over Belgium before drawing 1-1 with Italy on Friday, when Alessandro Bastoni capitalised on a misunderstanding between Da Cunha and Adrien Rabiot to score the Azzurri’s equaliser.
Despite that error, Zidane highlighted Da Cunha’s wider contribution across the two games and defended the Como midfielder.
“Football is about trying to make as few mistakes as possible. I’m not going to get into the question of whose fault it is. When there’s a mistake, it’s everyone’s fault,” said Zidane.
Da Cunha was France’s most effective player at regaining possession in the win against Belgium, winning the ball six times. He also registered the second-highest number of touches in the match, with 97, and completed 83 passes.
His influence continued against Italy at the Stade de France. Da Cunha created more chances than any other player in the match, producing four, and completed 82 of his 85 passes for a success rate of 96.5%.
Zidane said Da Cunha had earned his place in the squad and praised his confidence in possession and range of passing.
“What do I expect from a midfielder? What he has done, what he is doing and what he is doing.
“He deserves to be here with us, he deserves to have played, like all the others. I really like this player, he has a lot of personality.
“He’s not afraid to play. He filters the passes. It’s everything I love, he can make those 40-yard switches. He’s quite an interesting player.”
France sit top of Group A1 in the Nations League after three matches. Their final game of the extended international break will be against second-placed Belgium.
