Fans are left scratching their heads at Ibrahima Konate’s lack of playing time against Spain in the Euro 2024 semi-final.
In France’s 2-1 loss to Spain, the Liverpool star was relegated to the bench as Didier Deschamps watched as their hopes of winning the tournament were dashed at the hands of wunderkind Lamine Yamal and Dani Olmo. Randal Kolo Muani scored the first goal of the game but that would be all the French could muster against the Spanish side.
“Ibrahima Konate is the only thing you don’t choose to play and it is so wrong that he has to sit on the bench without playing,” one fan wrote on X, formerly Twitter. Another shared a similar sentiment, writing: “France’s biggest mistake was not starting Ibrahima Konate.”
Other fans wrote, claiming Konate in defence helped France reach the 2022 World Cup final while the player that replaced him, William Saliba, could not help the side get through to the Euros final.
Another fan wrote: “commiserations to Liverpool’s Ibrahima Konate, who didn’t concede a single goal this tournament but was sadly let down by his teammates.”
Ibrahima Konate did not play against Spain (Image: Photo by Alex Pantling – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images) It is interesting to note that Konate did not play in any of France’s games in this tournament. Against Austria, the Netherlands, Poland, Belgium, Portugal and Spain, Konate did not leave the bench once.
Despite not playing, Konate made sure to express his support for Saliba, as those on social media began to turn their eyes on his play. “My brother stop doing that,” Konate wrote to a Liverpool fan on X, which showed Saliba’s shortcomings on the pitch.
“Saliba is so good and he’s my brother! He deserves all this! So let’s be happy for! Thank you for supporting me I wasn’t 100% that’s all. Now we have to go to the final.”
With France’s disappointing showing at the Euros over, having a drought when it came to scoring, Deschamps and the World Cup winners will have ample time to figure out what went wrong for the squad. Speaking with reporters after the loss, Deschamps has some inkling on what failed this tournament.
“You need to be as relaxed as possible and hit the target,” he said. “This is what we’ve been missing. Nevertheless, we made it to the semi-final and found a way to score, thanks to Kolo [Muani]. It would have been better if we’d been as efficient as we had been before.”
Deschamps also gave credit to Spain’s attack, adding: “Spain mastered the game better than us, though. We didn’t perform that well, we didn’t play as vertically as I wanted. We pushed all the way to the end.”
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