Adrien Rabiot - From benchwarmer to utterly indispensable

Behind Aurélien Tchouaméni, Rabiot is, alongside Kylian Mbappé, the player to have played the most minutes since the start of the World Cup: 387. This is a significant total, as it shows that Didier Deschamps has full confidence in him. And the facts are, the midfielder is doing him proud. 

"I'm going through a very good period. It also comes with the fact that I have grown and matured, and my football has grown too. It's the best period of my career," Rabiot told a press conference before the quarter-final.

In Serie A, he also proved that he was Juventus' best player until the break. Unfortunately for him, he did not have enough impact to help his club meet expectations. However, in his defence, it has to be admitted that he surely could not have done more. Despite the bad collective dynamic, Rabiot arrived in this World Cup with a rather decent amount of confidence, which was reflected in his good performance against Australia.

Rabiot's activity was invaluable in Les Bleus' first win in Qatar - 80 touches of the ball. Afterwards, he was a little more discreet, perhaps being less decisive in the final third. However, his volume of play is always important within the team set up. He proved it against England. 

Rabiot is the one who, like Tchouaméni, does the dirty work. He ran 11.5 kilometres on Saturday evening, 200 metres further than his midfield partner. But above all, he was the most physically productive of the whole French team. Against Morocco, Les Bleus will desperately need him, because he will be critical in stopping the possible offensive transitions of the Atlas Lions.

A fully integrated player

"He has taken away the things that bothered him, his positioning could limit him psychologically. But today, he is a complete midfielder, a balanced player," said Deschamps last week.

There was a lot of pressure on his back, with the injuries of Paul Pogba and N'Golo Kanté. After five World Cup matches, it seems he has filled their boots rather well. 

It is also a a good thing that he has a good relationship with his coach, as evidenced by his comments in the press conference before the quarter-final against England.

"We always had a good relationship, even before the 2018 World Cup. After that, there were two years when we didn't have contact. When I came back, we talked and it went very well," he said.

"There was a very good relationship right away, this relationship improved from selection to selection, we got to know each other. Today, we are much closer."

Now, all France can do is hope for an even better future for the French team, in which Rabiot will be fit to play against Morocco and have a big say on the contest. And then potentially in the final against Argentina...