Raphaël Varane leaves the France team, as he announced this Thursday, February 2. The defender will have played three World Cups and Euro 2021 with the Blues, winning the world title in 2018 before reaching the final in 2022. It is a considerable page in his career that turns…
Raphaël Varane decided to end his international career on Thursday February 2, 2023, after 10 years of good and loyal service in the France team. A team with which he lived three World Cups (2014, 2018 and 2022) and a Euro (2021). The former hope of Lens and star of Real Madrid, now at Manchester United, leaves the Blues a bit by surprise at 29, an age still “acceptable” for a central defender.
The Mancunian could even be considered one of the favorites to succeed Hugo Lloris, 36, as captain of the Blues… He therefore prefers to leave his place to the many young people who already have the potential of future “tauliers ” in central defense, including Dayot Upamecano and Ibrahima Konaté.
Raphaël Varane was born on April 25, 1993 in Lille. From the age of 9, he was spotted by the Racing Club de Lens, which he joined in 2002. Earlier than the other recruits, he signed a three-year professional contract with the club in 2010. He then participates in the French Amateur Championship, and is a member of the French under-18 team.
It was only 17 years old that Raphaël Varane turned professional. He is tenured in Ligue 1, and selected for the France U23 team. While Lens was relegated to Ligue 2, he joined Real Madrid on the advice of Zinedine Zidane for the sum of 10 million euros. He signed with the Spanish club for six years and played his first match in September, playing his role perfectly with impressive calm and maturity. Three days later, again established, the defender scores a goal. In the following days, Varane took part in his first Champions League game. In 2011, he will take part in nine matches in the Spanish league, four in the Champions League and two in the Spanish Cup.
In 2012 and 2013, Raphaël Varane gained in regularity and playing time at Real Madrid, to the point of appearing as a regular alternative to Pepe and Sergio Ramos, and earned his starting stripes in the Champions League, at the same time as he discovers the France team.
2014 will be a paradoxical year with several errors which will cost him his starting lace in La Liga, but a consecration on the European scene where he will be aligned during the C1 final won by the Merengues against Atletico de Madrid. On this occasion, Varane becomes the youngest French winner of the competition at 21 years old.
The sequel sees the native of Lille fight to make his place in eleven Madrid. It will take him two seasons to really settle down and relegate Pepe to the hierarchy. In 2017, Varane achieved the Champions League – La Liga double for the first time in his career. The following season, Real Madrid retained their European title, despite a complicated season domestically. A blessed year for the defender who also won the World Cup with the Blues.
The return to reality will be more difficult even if in 2020, the people of Madrid conquer a new title of champion of Spain. In 2021, Raphaël Varane failed to win any trophies with Real Madrid, a first since 2015. Wishing to discover another championship and take up a new challenge, he left the White House in the summer after 10 years and joined Manchester United for four seasons in exchange for around 40 million euros. Holder in the Mancunian defense, he has not yet won anything with the Red Devils.
Revealed at his 17th birthday in Lens, Raphaël Varane was called up to the French team at the end of 2012 following the assumption of duty by Didier Deschamps. He will have to wait until March 22 of the following year to know his first selection, being established alongside Mamadou Sakho against Georgia. From then on, he will no longer leave the France group and will marry the mandate of the coach.
Holder during the 2014 World Cup, Raphaël Varane is at fault in the quarter-finals on the goal of Mats Hummels which eliminates the Blues. If he remains a basic element of the tricolor defense, injuries will deprive him of the Euro in 2016. In May, he injured his thigh and had to give up the tournament organized in France and saw his partners from afar fail in the final against Portugal (0-1 ap).
In 2018, Raphaël Varane is on the other hand well suited and forms, with Samuel Umtiti, a complementary and solid central hinge. This defensive team will considerably help the Blues to gain momentum in the competition and to win their second star, 20 years after the coronation of 1998. Varane distinguished himself by scoring one of the two goals in the quarter-finals against Uruguay ( 2-0).
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the player will have to wait until 2021 to discover the Euro but will not be able to avoid defeat in the round of 16 against Switzerland (3-3, 4-5 tab). He will console himself in the fall by winning a second trophy in selection with the League of Nations, against Spain (2-1).
In 2022, Raphaël Varane only played two matches with the Blues, weighed down by a hamstring injury. Uncertain for the World Cup since he was again hit in the hamstrings at the end of October, Varane is finally on the trip to Qatar, his injury being less serious than he feared. Spared in the first match, he will then play against Denmark and then in all the knockout matches until the final lost against Argentina.
On February 2, 2023, the pillar of the Blues, with 93 selections, announced on Intsagram the end of his international career.
At 29, Raphaël Varane announced that he would be the father of a third child, just before the World Cup 2022. The player has been married to Camille Tygat since the spring of 2015, after having met her in high school, the Manchester United defender already has a boy Ruben, born on March 9, 2017 and a girl named Anaïs who was born in the fall of 2020 The sex of the future child is still unknown.
One more member in a well-stocked family since the Northerner is the 3rd of a sibling of 4. He is also not the only one known to the general public. In 2019, her sister Annabelle participated in the Miss France election, as Miss Nord-Pas-de-Calais. A competition where she will qualify among the 12 semi-finalists, without managing to go further.