Sorpasso from LaLiga to the Premier in the World Cup semifinals
The critical and most decisive stage of the World Cup arrives. Only the semifinals remain at stake, in which the best footballers of the moment will be. The Spanish clubs will be the most represented in this phase, since they contribute up to 22 players (23 if one takes into account that Benzema is still registered), more than his main rival (16 from the Premier). In this way, LaLiga turns the situation around, since the English championship started the World Cup contributing 135 footballers compared to the 84 of the Spanish First Division clubs. Argentina is the team that has accommodated the most LaLiga players. It has three footballers from Atlético ( De Paul, Correa and Nahuel Molina ) and Sevilla ( Montiel, Acuña and Papu Gómez ), two from Villarreal ( Foyth and RullI ) and Betis ( Pezzella and Guido Rodríguez ). But in the rest of the teams there are also LaLiga players. Modric (Real Madrid), Grbic (Atlético) and Budimir (Osasuna) will be in Croatia . In the other semifinal, which will pit France against Morocco, the same thing happens. Among those called up by Deschamps are Griezmann (Atlético), Tchouameni and Camavinga (Real Madrid) and Koundé and Dembélé (Barcelona). Although Benzema could be added, who despite being injured is still on the French list, if he ends up champion, the white striker will also be recognized as such. And finally, the Moroccan team includes Bono and En Nesyri (Seville), El Yamiq (Valladolid) and Abde (Osasuna). In this way, up to eight LaLiga Santander clubs are involved in the Qatar 2022 semifinals. Atlético nurtures three of the participants (Argentina, Croatia and France), which makes it one of the teams that represents the most players in these semifinals with up to five. The same mark that Sevilla also registers and that only Bayern Munich manages to surpass, with five. LaLiga becomes the great represented in this final stretch with the 22 players mentioned above (23 if you want to include Benzema), ahead of the Premier League, which started as the clear dominator of the tournament in terms of players. The English first division will have 16 footballers, compared to 14 from Serie A and Ligue 1 (they nourish the backbone of Deschamps’ team) and 13 players from the Bundesliga.
Giroud and Regragui, transformation from Grenoble
The all-time top scorer for the French team, Olivier Giroud, was unknown to the world of football at the age of 21. While the Mbappé, Benzema and company were already considered stars, the man from Chambéry was trying to gain a foothold in the elite of French football in a team, Grenoble, which had been diluted over the years. Fifteen years after that experience, the Milan attacker will meet again with Walid Regragui, the Moroccan coach with whom he met for a season in the Rhône-Alpes team. 2006-2007 was a very complete season for Grenoble, who finished fifth in Ligue 2 and broke their record for goals in the competition, with 51 for them. Giroud, who was not considered a prodigy like Feghouli, barely started two games, scored just two goals and the sports director at the time, Bertrand Blaquart, recalled in Eurosport two years ago that they never saw the historic player of the national team French, a player capable of marking the history of French football. He was a substitute for Nassim Akrour and Yann Kermorgant, who scored 22 goals between them that season.