£36m Liverpool player impresses national media on his World Cup debut

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Ibrahima Konaté’s World Cup debut went to plan on Tuesday. Here’s how the French reacted to the Liverpool player’s performance.

France went into this World Cup with an incredible squad and even if injuries made it a little lighter, they remain one of the favourites. That was certainly the feeling coming out of Tuesday.

Les Bleus dominated Australia despite falling behind early on. Adrien Rabiot, Kylian Mbappé and an Olivier Giroud brace made it a comfortable win, however, in a game that featured a few World Cup debuts.

One of those came from Liverpool’s Ibrahima Konaté. This was only his third international appearance, but as expected, Didier Deschamps gave him the nod at the back. He stepped in for Raphael Varane and made a good impression at the back.

In fact, Konaté was unfortunate not to score right at the end – Matt Ryan made a good save to deny him. The 23-year-old couldn’t have done much about Australia’s goal, either, after Benjamin Pavard went walkabout.

But how did the media back in France feel about his display?

Ibrahima Konaté’s World Cup debut

Get French Football News enjoyed Konaté’s performance. They scored him a 7 and felt his partnership with Dayot Upamecano excelled. ‘Imperious’ from the two of them, they say, while admitting that they were relatively untested.

Le Parisien felt similarly. They said Konaté moved between looking excellent a little raw, while excusing him of any blame for the Australian goal. 6.5 they went for.

Le10Sport handed a 5.5 to the Liverpool defender. They liked what they saw, though felt he didn’t have to do all that much. Again, his partnership with Upamecano gets a shoutout.

L’Équipe were particularly high on Konaté. They felt his performance was a real positive contrast to Pavard’s, while pointing out he looked at home on the grand stage. The paper did question some of his decisions on the ball, woever.