How 'PlayStation' diffused France captaincy tension between Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann

The France national team has a new captain in the form of a superstar striker from French champion Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), Kylian Mbappe, as the side prepares to participate in the UEFA Euro 2024 Qualifiers this week against Netherlands and Ireland. While midfielder Antoine Griezmann was also in contention for the role, given the vast amount of experience he retains, the 24-year-old Parisian got the nod ahead.

At the same time, the 32-year-old Los Colchonero was handed the vice-captaincy duties. However, he was not entirely pleased about how things transpired, reportedly leading to a fallout with Mbappe. As per Goal, while a meeting did take place with both and head coach Didier Deschamps, it was to inform the two parties about the decision, whereas the judgement was drawn long before the 23-man squad for this week.

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While the rest of the France squad was informed of the development an hour after the decision, Griezmann expressed his frustration, given that he shared a strong relationship with Deschamps. However, the national boss had a PlayStation session to diffuse the tension between them as they played the video game against each other.

The session calmed down between the two, as a significant dressing room storm was averted. However, Griezmann persisted with the facts that Mbappe was being handed special treatment, given that he is the future of Les Blues, as was the case in Qatar during the FIFA World Cup 2022, where he was permitted to skip press conferences and sponsorship workshops.