Manchester United forward Anthony Martial earned Man of the Match honors yesterday in a 4-1 win at CSKA Moscow in UEFA Champions League group play, but had to leave early due to a minor injury. Martial had a goal and two assists in the Russian capital yesterday, a dominant performance that saw him extend his current run of fine form to three goals in his past three matches.
Yet it still wasn’t enough to earn him a place in the France national team for their upcoming World Cup qualifiers.
French Manager Didier Deschamps omitted Anthony Martial from the squad for the upcoming international break, despite the fact that he is the national team’s leader in goals and assists.
The decision does rather boggle the mind, as Martial is on fire right now. In addition to last night’s heroics, he also earned Man of the Match against Southampton last weekend, and he’s producing remarkable statistics such as these tweeted below (courtesy of the Manchester Evening News, who have additional positive reaction from United fans on Twitter)
So that's 5 goals & 4 assists in 352 mins for Martial this season while Coman has just 1 goal & 1 assist in 436 mins. Its not a tough call.
— Socanalysis (@SocanalysisHQ) September 28, 2017
One can likely infer that Martial, who has five goals this season already for United, will probably sit out the weekend home fixture versus Crystal Palace too. This will make him well rested for the rivalry clash at Liverpool on October 14th, and that is certainly delighting United supporters.
Here is the full official France squad by the way: (courtesy of the Daily Mail)
Goalkeepers: Alphone Areola (PSG), Hugo Lloris (Tottenham), Steve Mandanda (Marseille)
Defenders: Lucas Digne (Barcelona), Christophe Jallet (Nice), Presnel Kimpembe (PSG), Laurent Koscielny (Arsenal), Layvin Kurzawa (PSG), Djibril Sidibe (Monaco), Samuel Umtiti (Barcelona), Raphael Varane (Real Madrid)
Midfielders: N’Golo Kante (Chelsea), Blaise Matuidi (Juventus), Adrien Rabiot (PSG), Moussa Sissoko (Tottenham), Corentin Tolisso (Bayern Munich)
Forwards: Kingsley Coman (Bayern Munich), Olivier Giroud (Arsenal), Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid), Alexandre Lacazette (Arsenal), Thomas Lemar (Monaco), Kylian Mbappe (PSG), Dimitri Payet (Marseille), Florian Thauvin (Marseille).
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now and Minute Media. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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