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Former England international Joe Cole has been impressed by Real Madrid midfielder Federico Valverde's performances in the 2022 FIFA World Cup for Uruguay.
Valverde was key for the South American side as they played out a goalless draw against South Korea in their first game on November 24. One passage of play that caught the fans' attention the most was when Valverde won a challenge and passionately celebrated by punching the air.
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Cole was wowed by the Real Madrid midfielder as he told ITV Sport (via HITC):
“He’s an outstanding player, He was brilliant in the Champions League final. I love that. That’s commitment. The Latin teams. They do play with passion.”
Valverde and Uruguay are set for a stern test next as they will take on Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal in their next game on Monday, November 28.
Aurelien Tchouameni clears air about Real Madrid teammate Karim Benzema's absence from the 2022 FIFA World Cup
Real Madrid midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni rubbished claims that the France team is happy without the presence of Karim Benzema.
Benzema has been ruled out of the 2022 FIFA World Cup after sustaining an injury in training. Multiple reports have suggested that the Les Bleus squad is happy with Benzema's absence in their ranks. Tchouameni, however, has set the record straight about those claims.
Speaking to reporters, the up-and-coming midfielder said (via GOAL):
"The group is fine, we’re all living well together, and I wanted to talk about something we saw about Karim Benzema’s departure, about this information that we feel better since he’s not here. This is totally false, because even when he was still with us, things were going well.
"We all felt sad about his injury. In any case, what I can tell you is that since we arrived, things have been going very well between us."
France won their first two games of the tournament against Australia (4-1) and Denmark (2-1). They were the first team to secure qualification to the knockout stages of the tournament. Didier Deschamps' side will take on Tunisia in their final game of Group D on November 30.
