FRANCE-PORTUGAL: “ARE YOU SERIOUSLY ASKING ME THAT?”, NUNO MENDES AMUSED BY A QUESTION ABOUT MBAPPÉ

Former teammate of Kylian Mbappé at PSG, Nuno Mendes is impatient to face him on Friday during the quarter-final between Portugal and France at Euro 2024. The Portuguese full-back will not play directly against the French captain but is happy to meet him and the other Parisian players of the Blues.

After the success against Belgium in the previous round, the Blues face Cristiano Ronaldo ‘s Portugal on Friday in the quarter-finals of Euro 2024. For the rest of France’s ‘death journey’ in the continental tournament, they will have to put the Portuguese defense to the test, where Kylian Mbappé could well cross paths with Nuno Mendes… who is not really eager to face him with the ball at his feet and did not wish to explain how his compatriots intend to stop him.

“Are you seriously asking me that? To be honest, he won’t play on my side. If he goes to my side, I’ll be prepared,” Nuno Mendes told the press on Wednesday. “I train every day for this kind of moment. We are all prepared for this match against France and we will do everything we can to annihilate their forces and play our game.”

“Ousmane, he’s funnier”

A little later during his intervention in front of the journalists, Nuno Mendes answered a few questions in French. The opportunity for him to slip a new layer on Kylian Mbappé . But by his own admission, blocking the French star will not be an easy thing for the Seleçao das Quinas.

“To stop Mbappé, I think it’s going to be complicated,” Nuno Mendes said with a smile. “But I know him a little and I’m going to do my best to stop him.”

The 22-year-old full-back, member of the large Parisian delegation from Portugal with Vitinha , Gonçalo Ramos and Danilo Pereira, Nuno Mendes also had a word for the other Parisians in this match: his teammates from PSG who will be his French rivals in the quarter-final of the Euro.

“I think I know all five of them well. Ousmane (Dembélé) is funnier, I talk more with him. But I also think I talk well with all five. No, there are not four, there are five with Warren (Zaire-Emery), Bradley (Barcola), Kolo Muani … there are five (laughs). I get on well with them and I think it’s going to be a great match.”