The Lille goalkeeper, who has put in some fine performances since the start of the season, has been called up by Didier Deschamps for the French national team. And he’s enjoying it.
His reaction was expected. He was quick to come out of the woodwork. “Since yesterday, 2:00 pm, my life has changed”.said the Lille goalkeeper at a press conference on Friday. Lucas Chevalier called up to the French national team for the first time, “the beginning of fulfillment”.
Losc’s young goalkeeper, who turned 23 on Wednesday, is in Didier Deschamps’ squad to face Israel (November 14) and Italy (November 17) in the Nations League. His name had been mooted for months to join the goalkeeping trio of Mike Maignan and Brice Samba. I’m very proud, it’s the beginning of an achievement,” he was satisfied ahead of the northern club’s trip to Nice on Sunday (3:00 pm). You have to appreciate the moment, but we’re also going to have to show some stuff.”
In his car at the time of Deschamps’ list
This first call-up propelled the Calais native (1.89 m) into another dimension: “Since yesterday, 2:00 pm (when the list was announced, editor’s note), my life has changed.” “Yesterday, I wasn’t live, I was in the car, and the list must have come out at 2.09pm, something like that, he recounts with a smile. At 2:08pm, it was very quiet, and then at 2:09pm, the phone exploded. What’s going on? It really hit me. That’s when you think: ah yeah, this is important for us but also for the people around us.”
Laurent SANSON / PANORAMIC
However, the Lille goalkeeper, who trained at the Domaine de Luchin, takes his new status lightly: “I don’t think I’m aware of what I’m doing. But it’s also this carefree attitude that means I take things naturally and don’t go crazy.”
This choice by Didier Deschamps rewards Lucas Chevalier’s rise to prominence, excellent in the Champions League, the supreme criterion in the eyes of the coach. “It’s a surprise in the sense that it’s the first time, but there’s an element of logic, he said. I deserve some credit, but if I hadn’t been called up, it wouldn’t have mattered. If it had happened six months from now, it would have been six months from now.”
At Clairefontaine, he will be reunited with Mike Maignan, Les Bleus’ N.1, for whom he was one of the substitutes on his debut in the north of France. The story is beautiful,” he commented. We were convinced that it could be done. Today, it is. We’re going to have to take a good photograph of the moment in our heads.”