OGC Nice stopper Jean-Clair Todibo was clearly hoping for much better as he made his France debut in the 2-1 friendly defeat to Germany on Tuesday.
Todibo's excellent start to the season under Francesco Farioli at Nice has earned the young stopper a call-up from Didier Deschamps, but his French debut didn't go quite as planned.
'Under the pump'
"I don't think we got off to a good start," admitted the defender, who saw Thomas Müller open the scoring early on. "We were under the pump from the fourth minute and we should have made a better start. Unfortunately, we weren't very successful in front of goal. We knew it was going to be a tricky game, given the difficult times they're going through, and it was up to us to break them down and we didn't manage to do that."
'A bitter taste'
While the result was certainly a morale boost for a Germany side whose struggle for results cost coach Hansi Flick his job (Germany legend Rudi Völler was on the bench in an interim capacity on Tuesday), it had something of the opposite effect on Todibo, who earned his first cap in his second call-up to Deschamps' squad.
"I'm bitter about this result," said the 23-year-old former Toulouse, Barcelona and Benfica man. "I've got a bitter taste about this first cap, and the second goal was clearly my fault. I needed to make my pass safe, but I got it wrong and we conceded that second goal."
Next
Todibo will have to turn the page on his disappointment quickly, as Nice have a tough trip to Paris to face PSG in Ligue 1 Uber Eats Round 5 action on Friday night.
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