World Cup 2022: France bid to stop virus spreading through squad before Argentina final

Nizaar Kinsella15 December 2022

Didier Deschamps has revealed France are taking precautions to stop a virus spreading through their squad before Sunday’s World Cup Final against Argentina.

Adrien Rabiot and Dayot Upamecano were unavailable for last night’s 2-0 win over Morocco after suffering with sickness.

Kingsley Coman was “feverish” earlier in the day and Deschamps said France have “had a few cases of flu-like symptoms”.

Upamecano returned to training on Tuesday and was named on the bench on Wednesday night, but Rabiot was told to stay at the team hotel.

Deschamps hopes Rabiot and Upamecano will be fit to face Argentina, but says France are taking “necessary precautions” to stop any illness spreading.

France have a few cases of a flu-like virus ahead of Sunday’s World Cup final against Argentina
AFP via Getty Images

“Temperatures have fallen a little [but] you still have air conditioning on all the time,” said Deschamps. “We’ve had a few cases of flu-like symptoms. We are trying to be careful, so it doesn’t spread, and players have made great efforts out on the pitch and, obviously, their immune systems suffer.

“Upamecano felt sick immediately after the match [against England]. It happens when you make such an effort, your body is weakened and you are more prone to be infected by these viruses. We are taking all necessary precautions to make sure it doesn’t spread, but viruses are infectious. We separated Dayot from others, and Adrien as well.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in