This Tuesday, the French national team will face Spain in the 2026 World Cup semi-final at 9:00 PM CET at the Dallas stadium. The match involves six Paris Saint-Germain players: five for France—Lucas Hernandez, Warren Zaïre-Emery, Désiré Doué, Bradley Barcola, and Ousmane Dembélé—and one for Spain, Fabián Ruiz. RMC Sport and Canal+ are now reporting that Barcola will start instead of Doué. It is worth noting that Aurélien Tchouaméni is expected to start ahead of Manu Koné.
RMC Sport:
🇫🇷 According to the latest indications, Didier Deschamps has opted for Bradley Barcola over Désiré Doué, and Aurélien Tchouaméni over Manu Koné in midfield.
Canal+:
CANAL+ NEWS 🚨
Bradley Barcola will indeed start tonight against Spain, as will Aurélien Tchouaméni in midfield for Les Bleus
This comes as a bit of a surprise, given that several media outlets had predicted Doué would start last night and this morning. Perhaps the decision was far from settled, or a change was made this Tuesday. It is a tough call involving two interesting players with very different profiles—neither of whom has yet managed to become an “indispensable” figure for the French national team. Often, both players see action during the match, taking turns on the pitch. As for Tchouaméni and Koné, it is a shame that the latter’s excellent performances are not enough, while the former is returning from a minor injury following somewhat mixed displays.
In any case, we are remaining cautious since these are not official selections. Surprises are always possible, even though media reports tend to be quite accurate during the World Cup. Certainty will only come with the official team announcement, roughly an hour and a half before kickoff.
