Matuidi: Les Bleus a ‘group of friends’

Posted Tuesday, May 24, 2016 by Foxsports.com

Matuidi: Les Bleus a ‘group of friends’
PSG's Blaise Matuidi has reflected on his first call-up to the French squad and looks forward to the upcoming European Championship to be played on home soil.

The Ligue 1 winners' midfield enforcer grew up idolising Didier Deschamps, captain of France's national team during the most successful period of the country's football history.

"When I was young, I was lucky enough to grow up watching probably the best-ever French team," he told the Ligue 1 Show on beIN SPORTS. "They won the World Cup and the Euros, of course. Those players were my idols; I was a young boy and I was in dreamland watching them."

The 29-year-old recalled the start of his six-year international career with fondness, speaking of the support he received during that period.

"My phone started ringing relentlessly," he said.

"I was at Saint-Etienne too, far from my family in Paris, so everyone was calling me and I felt really happy," he continued.

"Nowadays nobody calls me to congratulate me when I'm named in the squad!

"I think the France team is above all a group of friends that has been together for a little while now, and I hope it carries on. Of course we are aware that we can produce something magical.

"Of course we realise that winning the Euros is very hard to achieve, it doesn't just happen because you want it to. There are plenty of other teams who will be looking to win it.

"Of course playing at home is an advantage. But there are many strong sides so there's no question we're really going to have to play out of our skins."