A hinge still uncertain for the Blues with a view to the Euro

The idea that big titles are won on defense is not new. We could extend it by observing, often, that they are won with the same defense. Even if Frank Leboeuf had replaced Laurent Blanc, suspended, in the final of the 1998 World Cup against Brazil (3-0), the two great blue conquests, of that summer then of Euro 2000, held on to the incredible stability of the defensive personnel, and by this staggering statistic: when Lilian Thuram, Marcel Desailly, Laurent Blanc and Bixente Lizarazu were starters together, under Aimé Jacquet then under Roger Lemerre, the French team never lost, in 28 matches.