Manchester City midfielder Samir Nasri has confirmed
his retirement from international football with France.
The 27-year-old dropped a strong hint last week that
he had decided to cut short his chequered
international career, having been omitted from the
France squad that went to the 2014 FIFA World Cup
Brazil™ by coach Didier Deschamps.
"I will only be 29 in 2016 for the European
Championship, but the French national team doesn't
make me happy," Nasri said in an interview with
newspaper The Guardian. "Every time I go there,
there is just more trouble. I face accusations about
me and my family suffers from it and I don't want to
make them suffer, so it's better to stop it and focus
on my club career."
Nasri made his France debut at the age of 19 in 2007
and has won 41 caps, scoring five goals, but his
international career has been dogged by controversy.
He clashed with senior players during the 2008 UEFA
European Championship, while a verbal exchange
with a journalist following France's elimination at
EURO 2012 saw him receive a three-game ban. He
was also left out of the France squad for the 2010
World Cup.
"Let's face it, as long as he is going to be the
manager, I don't think I have a shot after everything
that has happened," Nasri said of Deschamps. "It's
not just him. He did what he thought was best for his
team. I understand his choice. It is not something
about him. I don't have any problem with him. It's
just everything.
"It is not him who talks in the press, it is the press
who say things about me and the players as well.
Before this World Cup they were saying that some
players complain (about Nasri). Why do you want me
to be in the group with some players who can't even
be true in front of me and tell me that they have a
problem? I don't want to be there. I am not happy. I
don't want to go there any more.
by ROTMANLUV 2023-07-08, 17:34
