Samuel Umtiti

Run your game.

In a match of razor-thin margins, Samuel Umtiti's clinical header broke the deadlock, halting Belgium's golden generation in their tracks and propelling France toward their second global crown.

Rather than an isolated high-water mark, that victory opened the floodgates for a sequence of high-stakes heartbreak for the Red Devils.

In the 2021 UEFA Nations League finals in Turin, France famously overturned a two-goal half-time deficit with goals from Karim Benzema, a Kylian Mbappe penalty, and a dramatic 90th-minute winner from Theo Hernandez sealing a stunning 3-2 comeback.

You saw that partnership build there.

You saw even the Umtiti partnership building for two years.

Umtiti effed his knee at the World Cup.

And since then, PK has gone south.

You have to have a core... foundation i would say pivot and start back and are the two partnerships that you want to you know build for a long period of time we of course had multiple partnerships in the pivot you had of course busquets pedro de young they did it for a few years buscas chabiniesta busquets and rakitic did it for a few years in paulino artur on the goals were kind of coming there but you had that core partnership that understood each other so you can bring in someone else experiment See how well they do.

I remember seeing Sissoko.

Umtiti? Go

Griez.

Yeah, let's send it.

We'll send Manzoukic now.

I want to look at the starting XI to see if...

Umtiti did play, but Pavard played it right back.

Oh, yeah.

Tell me.

Umtiti.

[laughs] Like-

Can I change my answer?

Karim Benzema

Wait, is he a right back?

And then I remember Umtiti...

No, a center back.