A leading member of the defensive ranks at La Liga giants has been dropped to the bench on the international front on Friday night.
The player in question? Jules Koundé.
Koundé is for his part fresh off something of a hit-and-miss opening to the campaign at club level.
Owing to the stellar form of Barcelona teammate Eric García, the former Sevilla man has found himself in and out of Hansi Flick’s starting XI.
Koundé was nevertheless called up by Didier Deschamps for France duty for the October international break.
But as alluded to above, his struggles for consistent game time have on Friday evening continued.
France are currently locked in action, in a World Cup qualifying fixture against Azerbaijan.
Koundé, though, has been forced to watch on from the sideline to this point in proceedings.
As much comes with manager Deschamps having instead opted for Chelsea star Malo Gusto to fill the right-back spot in his XI.
Conor Laird – GSFN
