M’Vila case, Antonetti: « Not the same strictness in the French national team »

The day after the divulgation of the robbery case for which Yann M’Vila brought an action (read previously), a little controversy set up between Frédéric Antonetti and the France national team staff.

The Rennes coach, who explained on Friday morning in L’Équipe that he « didn’t make his choices in function of the private life of his players », tackled the staff of « Les Bleus », guilty, according to him, to not sufficiently take care of the behaviour of players after matches. « In Stade Rennes, we are very strict on the resting times, we take care of their private lives, we try to give them some advice, Antonetti said to radio station RMC. In the French national team, we can say that there isn’t the same strictness ».

If Henri Émile, the sport coordinator of « Les Bleus », explained when he took his functions « Laurent Blanc insisted during a meeting that the clubs have to come and bring back their players after national team matches », Antonetti denied any fault of Stade Rennes. « We go and bring them back when it is possible, but it was in Montpellier, we didn’t have a private plane, it was complicated, the coach explained. But after the decisive qualification match (against Bosnia in Saint-Denis), we brought Yann back, and he was the only one who didn’t go to the party. I have to say that... »

By the way, the Corsican technician didn’t blame his protégé: « We all have been young, Yann did a stupid thing, but this is not a big slip-up, the kid is only 21 years old... », noticed Antonetti.
Via a laconic press release published on his official website, the player qualified the published information as « not verified and private », and refused to make any further comment.