France v Republic of Ireland preview: Republic return to Paris for international friendly
Tuesday 29 May 2018 09:57, UK
Republic of Ireland will return to Paris for the first time since that infamous Thierry Henry handball when they play France on Monday.
Officials at the Stade de France in November 2009 missed the incident and Ireland failed to reach the World Cup finals in South Africa the following summer.
It will be the first time the two sides have met at the stadium since that day although they faced each other in Lyon in the last 16 of Euro 2016.
Robbie Brady's second-minute penalty silenced a partisan crowd and it took a quick-fire second-half double from Antoine Griezmann, coupled with Shane Duffy's red card, to restore a measure of calm.
However, only five of the men who started that afternoon - Duffy, Seamus Coleman, Jeff Hendrick, James McClean and Shane Long - are included in a largely experimental squad this time around.
Speaking about his team, Republic of Ireland manager Martin O'Neill said: "This is as big a game as some of our players will have played in. It will be a huge test and I'm hoping to learn a lot from it.
"It will be a big test for us. France have as good a chance as anyone of winning the World Cup. For us it is great preparation for the Nations League and a big opportunity for some of our less experienced players."
For France, it will be the first step on their way to the World Cup finals in Russia next month, and will also face Italy and the USA over the next few weeks before Les Bleus get their campaign underway against Australia in Kazan on June 16.
Asked if he was hoping for a similar result to the 4-0 drubbing they handed out to Norway before the 2014 finals, manager Didier Deschamps said: "I don't want the Irish journalists to think that we chose Ireland because we thought we were going to have fun and we were going to win.
"We played Ireland at the Euros and it was very hard. We chose this team because they have the same profile as the ones we are going to face at the World Cup, and it's going to be a tough game, I can tell you that."
Team news
The Republic of Ireland will be without Jeff Hendrick for the game in Paris - although they are hopeful he will be fit for Saturday's friendly against the USA - but Callum O'Dowda will be available for selection.
Deschamps will have his World Cup squad to select from, and with Dimitri Payet missing through injury, he has a sizeable hole to plug, while Marseille team-mate Florian Thauvin will hope to press his claims after an impressive season at club level.
