France squad: Dimitri Payet pays tribute to Didier Deschamps, ‘the best coach in the world’

More than four years after his last choice for France, in a 2-2 friendly against Iceland in October 2018, Dimitri Payet is still a passionate supporter of the Blues. In an interview with La Provence, he stated his admiration for Didier Deschamps, with whom he spent most of his international career. “He is first and foremost someone who works hard,” he says. “He gets shot on every list, everyone wonders why he didn’t take such and such, but at the end we usually say thank you for making us vibrate. »

The same thing happened during the World Cup in Qatar: “They made 67 million French people proud, they made children dream, they were able to teach life lessons. “All this thanks to Didier Deschamps, “the best coach in the world”, for Dimitri Payet. “He is the best group builder among coaches. “A vivid tribute to someone who did particularly well at Euro 2016 but had to pull out of the 2018 World Cup due to an injury suffered at the very end of the season.

Slightly used this season by Igor Tudor (464 minutes out of 1350 possible in Ligue 1, just 2 games out of 6 in the Champions League), Dimitri Payet has also returned to his difficult start to the year. He believes he has to bring more to deserve the game: “I think the coach expects me to be more determined, more edgy, whether it’s 15-20 minutes or when I start,” he analyzes.

“The Coupe de France must be the goal”

And he says he wants to focus on the team, aiming for the trophy: “The goal is to qualify for the Champions League. Then obviously the Coupe de France should also be the target. Personally, this is one of my goals – to leave a bigger mark in the club by betting on control trophy. »

Olympique de Marseille returns to Ligue 1 this Thursday against Toulouse at the Stade Velodrome. Dimitri Payet could take advantage of the long absence of Amine Harit, as well as the late returns of Jordan Veret and Mateo Guendouzi, to get more playing time.