Is Raphaël Varane the greatest defender to feature for Les Bleus? | OneFootball

Over the years, the French national team have produced some outstanding defenders that helped Les Bleus become a force in world football.

Names like Marius Trésor, Gérard Janvion, Maxime Bossis, Lilian Thuram, Laurent Blanc and Marcel Desailly all have impressive resumes for both club and country, but perhaps the greatest French defender of them all officially retired from football last week.

At 31 years old, it seems that Rafaël Varane had more to give, but sadly, injuries ultimately became too much for him to play any longer.

For someone in his early 30s, though, he’s made a lasting impact for Les Bleus and at the club level.

Football fans should fondly remember him as a generational talent and perhaps the greatest defender of his generation.

The man who began his senior career at RC Lens in 2010 came a long way in a short period, earning a move to Real Madrid in 2011, where he’d play an integral part in their success, winning three La Liga titles and four Champions League trophies.

His success, however, wasn’t just limited to club football as he was the French vice-captain when they won the World Cup in 2018, with Varane scoring the winner in their quarter-final triumph versus Uruguay.

A big reason for France’s World Cup triumph in 1998 was their rock-solid backline of Thuram, Blanc, Desailly and Bixente Lizarazu, who were virtually impenetrable as a foursome and never lost a single match when starting for Les Bleus.

All of those players can rival Varane for trophies for club and country, with those four capturing a Euro crown in 2000, one trophy which eluded Varane with Les Bleus.

The likes of Trésor, Janvion and Bossis all won plenty of club trophies and individual honours as well. Varane’s versatility throughout his career, though, is maybe what distinguishes him from the other great French defenders of the past.

French supporters will never forget the brace Thuram scored in the ’98 semi-finals or Blanc’s Golden Goal against Paraguay in the last 16 that year, but for as great as those two defenders were, there’s a case to be made that Varane was much more well-rounded.

Varane rarely lost an aerial duel, while he was terrific on the ball, seemingly always evading the opposition’s press and starting attacking plays from the back.

Trésor had an iconic volley in France’s ’82 semi-final, and while Bossis is remembered by many as the man who missed the penalty that sent them to defeat in that match, though he was twice named Footballer of the Year according to France Football.

The Rock, aka Desailly, is among the strongest and most physical defenders to play for Les Bleus, similar to Janvion in the ’80s.

Desailly, though, had a much stronger centre-back partner in Blanc throughout his career and later Frank Leboeuf, while Samuel Umtiti was often paired with Varane, a player who had some strong moments but not the same defensive consistency as Blanc.

In his career with Les Bleus, the four-time FIFA Club World Cup champion won a FIFA World Cup and a UEFA Nations League crown and helped France win nearly consecutive world titles in 2022.

Meanwhile, his absence was clearly felt at Euro 2016 as Didier Deschamps’s side looked vulnerable at the back throughout that competition and were only rescued by brilliant individual performances from the likes of Antoine Griezmann, Dimitri Payet and Olivier Giroud, to name a few.

Varane’s presence at the back might’ve changed the outcome of that tournament. Throughout his career, the 2024 FA Cup champion was a serial winner and an integral part of his team’s successes.

He may not have as many caps and iconic individual moments as previously mentioned names, but he rarely got a challenge wrong or cost his team.

When you compare his entire repertoire to that of the other great French defenders, he was technically just as good, if not better, and he didn’t have nearly as much support on the back end as the team in ’98, for example.

GFFN | Joel Lefevre