Liverpool saw five players take to the pitch on Thursday as they tried to translate their good club form to their countries.
The Reds are in excellent shape heading into the latest international break and have 16 players away on duty in October.
Things have not started especially well from a Liverpool standpoint, though. Alexis Mac Allister was ruled not fit to play for Argentina against Venezuela, with the midfielder only well enough to start from the bench.
Meanwhile, Trent Alexander-Arnold was given mixed reviews following England’s shock 2-1 defeat against Greece.
Happily, things went a little better for Ibrahima Konate and France. Konate was in the running to captain France for the night with regular skipper Kylian Mbappe rested by Didier Deschamps.
In the end the Liverpool defender was initially overlooked for Aurelien Tchouameni. However, he did take the armband once the Real Madrid midfielder was taken off in the second-half. And judging from the reactions, Konate seems to have handled the extra responsibility well.
Ibrahima Konate earns good review for France
Konate has been superb for Liverpool this season. After a disappointing dip at the end of last term, the 25-year-old has bounced back in style.
Konate’s drop off unfortunately led to the centre-back being benched for France’s full European Championship campaign in the summer.
With Arsenal’s William Saliba preferred, it had looked like Liverpool’s No.5 might find it hard to fight his way back into the side.
Konate’s case was helped on Thursday by the absence of Dayot Upamecano from the squad, though, and he ultimately started alongside Saliba.
READ MORE: Real Madrid’s Antonio Rudiger explains how highly he rates Ibrahima Konate
And according to French outlet Footmercato, Konate was the better performing of the Premier League centre-back duo.
Saliba is rated as a six out of ten, with the Liverpool man just edging it with a score of six point five.
Both appear to have done well, with the Arsenal defender labelled as having a ‘serious match.’ But Reds supporters know just how good Konate is, and he’s hailed as an ‘authoritative’ presence in the France defence.
Though he’s described as being ‘in the spotlight’ after his claims to the captaincy, Ibou is said to have ‘perfectly managed’ the Israel forwards and performed ‘diligently’ overall.
Can Ibrahima Konate keep his place?
The fact that Konate was in the running at all for the captaincy in Mbappe’s absence suggests that he is now a big part of Deschamps plans.
On form this season, Ibou has arguably been better than Saliba, no matter the press coverage Arsenal’s No.2 seems to get.
But whether Saliba is slightly overhyped or not, there’s no question that the 23-year-old is a top defender. On paper, his partnership with Konate probably looks like the best France have got.
Liverpool linked Loic Bade is pushing for a place, though, while Upamecano will fancy his chances of being straight back in the XI next time out.
There’s more competition besides for Konate, but on this kind of form, he’s certainly laying down a marker.
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