Capello praises Theo Hernandez after France heroics: “Never seen him like that”

Fabio Capello has praised Theo Hernandez for his performances at the European Championship so far and especially the one against Belgium on Monday.

Theo and Mike Maignan together with the now former Milan man Olivier Giroud gained access to the quarter-finals of Euro 2024 by beating Belgium 1-0. They will face Rafael Leao’s Portugal on Friday night in what promises to be a fascinating encounter.

It was Jan Vertonghen who stuck out a leg in the 85th minute that deflected the ball in, and that got Les Bleus into the quarter-finals of Euro 2024, but another resilient defensive effort helped which Theo and Mike contributed to.

It was a tackle on Yannick Carrasco by the left-back that stole the headlines; a perfectly-timed intervention that he had to get right otherwise it was a penalty and potentially further punishment.

Fabio Capello spoke in today’s La Gazzetta dello Sport about the importance of Theo and Maignan for Didier Deschamps’ side, with his comments relayed by Radio Rossonera.

“For the goals they [France] don’t score, there are the goals they don’t concede. First rule: have a good goalkeeper. For us Azzurri it wasn’t enough, but for France it was useful. Maignan made a couple of really important saves on De Bruyne,” he said.

“I saw Hernandez’s recovery in a slide tackle on Carrasco, celebrated like a goal: I was impressed by Theo’s humility, I had never seen him like that. Yes, we can talk about a Milan block that knows how to be decisive for the French national team.”