Adrien Rabiot has warned England not to fixate on stopping Kylian Mbappé and has admitted France are wary of the set-piece threat posed by Gareth Southgate’s side.
Mbappé stepped up his preparations for Saturday’s World Cup quarter-final after returning to full France training on Wednesday following a recovery session indoors on Tuesday.
Rabiot said France must sharpen up at corners to prevent England from prospering when the teams meet at Al Bayt Stadium. England face the world champions hoping to advance to a third straight semi-final at a major tournament and successive semi-finals at a World Cup.
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Southgate has identified set pieces as pivotal to success at tournaments. England scored nine of their 12 goals from set pieces en route to the last four in Russia four years ago and have scored two this campaign. Bukayo Saka’s first goal in England’s 6-2 evisceration of Iran stemmed from a corner and Marcus Rashford scored a free-kick in their 3-0 win over Wales.
Rabiot referenced France’s group-stage win over Denmark, when Andreas Christensen equalised from a corner before Mbappé struck to earn victory, as evidence of their need to be alert.
Harry Maguire and John Stones are among England’s key threats at set pieces. “I think what can make a big difference will be set pieces,” Rabiot said. “They are very good at them. We have weapons too but we are going to have to be vigilant and we cannot make the mistakes that we made against Denmark when it was a corner or free-kick because they can be very dangerous.
“I think it will be a very open match. I think they have the same characteristics as us. They have some very fast players on the wing and full-backs that get forward. We are both quite similar, two teams who know how to move forward very fast on the pitch.”
The France defender Ibrahima Konaté pointedly said that “football isn’t played by one or two players, it is played by the whole team”. Mbappé has scored five goals in Qatar and is a strong contender for the Golden Boot.
“We are not dependent on him,” Rabiot said. “He has amazing potential and we know that 90% of the goals can maybe come from him. He is very fast, able to make great assists but we also have other players who can make a difference on the pitch in another way. We have a great weapon in Kylian and we’re not going to deprive ourselves of that.”
The England right-back Kyle Walker, who is likely to be given the task of nullifying Mbappé, said he does not intend to “roll out the red carpet” for the in-form Paris Saint-Germain forward. Konaté said his Liverpool clubmate and opponent on Saturday Trent Alexander-Arnold has been ribbing him since they were pitted against England. “Trent sent me some teasing texts,” Konaté said with a smile.
The France centre-back added that just as England would be foolish to obsess about Mbappé, Didier Deschamps’ side have no plans to focus on Harry Kane, who took his England tally to 52 goals in their last-16 triumph over Senegal, one short of Wayne Rooney’s England goalscoring record. “We’re not going to target one particular player,” Konaté said. “I’ve played against him a few times but everybody knows Harry Kane is a very good player, a very English player.”
Konaté, who was born in Paris to immigrants from Mali, was asked about Morocco becoming the first African team to progress to the World Cup quarter-finals since Ghana in 2010. “It has been amazing to see the African countries impress the world with their performances,” Konaté said. “I’m really happy to know that Morocco are through to the quarter-finals. I am focusing on France because that is the country I have chosen to play for but I hope Morocco do well.”
Rabiot, who had a short spell with Manchester City as a 13-year-old, came close to joining Manchester United earlier this year and said he maintains ambitions of playing in the Premier League. “I really liked the atmosphere [in England],” the Juventus midfielder said. “It’s really something that’s only in England – it’s different to France and Italy. I’ve always said that I’d like to play in England and I still have that desire. I would like to evolve in the Premier League.”
