The French selector announced, this Friday, the list of summoned for the double day of the League of Nations, and was eventually questioned about the departure of the Portuguese technician, as well as about the recent historical goal suffered by Lens, at the hands of Como (1-9), in the League of Champions.
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06/11/2026
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A paulo Fonseca's move to Sporting, leaving Lyon in the middle of the season, remains one of the themes of the moment in France, including Zinédine Zidane's comments. The French selector announced, this Friday, the list of summoned for the double day of the League of Nations, and was eventually questioned about the departure of the Portuguese technician, as well as about the recent historical goal suffered by Lens, at the hands of Como (1-9), in the League of Champions.
“No, I’m not worried about French football. It's a football that's fine. I see good things, good games and good players. Still, we must always be attentive and ask some questions. As for the coach's choice, he explained it. It was a tough decision for him, but he followed his heart. It will be very difficult for Lyon, because he was an excellent coach and, when we are in the middle of a journey, these situations can become complicated”, Zidane started by saying, before deepening Lens' desire.
“ I saw the game, too, and I thought he was a freak. Not just for the result, of course, but also for the way it all happened. There was one extremely effective team since the beginning of the meeting and another one that is quite good, that has players of great quality and that do very beautiful things, but that, in this game, was completely suffocated and never managed to enter the match. I do the same analysis as Luis Enrique”, he added.
The former coach of Real Madrid also addressed other themes outside the orbit of the Gauls, such as the death of Jesús de Miguel, a Spanish player who lost his life after a chilling shock within the field.
“ I'm sad, deeply shaken, just like everyone else. I even get goose bumps. We don't want to see these situations on a football field. This is just the message I want to leave. I'm mostly sad for the family. I hope we never see anything like this again on a football field,” he said.
Pablo Pagis, Zidane's surprise
For the fighting against Italy and Turkey, scheduled for 12 and 15 November, respectively, Zidane decided to call 23 players, highlighting the debut of Pablo Pagis, 23-year-old spearhead who wears the Paris FC sweater.
“Pablo Pagis was summoned because we had a little problem with Akliouche, who has some physical complaints and cannot join us. Pablo was already part of the preconvening and he's a player I want to watch. It is interesting, it has different characteristics and it is positive to be able to see it at this stage of selection”, Zidane explained.
Son of former forward Mickaël Pagis, Pablo scored two goals in nine games serving Paris FC, a club that had not had a player in the French national team since 1973.
The list of 23 players summoned from France
Network guard: Mike Maignan, Guillaume Restes and Robin Risser
Defences: Andy Diouf, Malo Gusto, Jérémy Jacquet, Pierre Kalulu, Ibrahima Konate, Adrien Truffert, Dayot Upamecano and Lenny Yoro
Medium: Eduardo Camavinga, Rayan Cherki, Lucas Da Cunha, Adrien Rabiot, Aurélien Tchouameni and Warren Zaïre-Emery
Advanced: Bradley Barcola, Désiré Doué, Kylian Mbappé, Michael Olise, Pablo Pagis and Marcus Thuram