Domenech settles scores with Lizarazu, the scapegoat of Euro 2004

Raymond Domenech did not mince his words about Bixente Lizarazu. In a post on social media, the former France manager said that the international retirements of Lizarazu and Marcel Desailly, announced after Euro 2004, caused him no regret: “For the first two, it was not a problem, they had had their time.”

The context for this statement is the appointment of Zinedine Zidane as the new France manager, expected this Friday at 6 p.m. at the headquarters of the French Football Federation to unveil his first squad list. Domenech, who had himself gone through this exercise in August 2004, shared his memories and methods on the occasion.

Lizarazu had nonetheless been one of the pillars of the French left flank for years. But his Euro 2004 ended on a painful note: in the 65th minute of the quarter-final against Greece, he was beaten by Greek captain Theodoros Zagorakis, whose cross allowed Angelos Charisteas to score the decisive goal. France were eliminated by the future European champions. This match would be the 97th and last in the blue shirt for Lizarazu, who would officially announce his international retirement a few weeks later, in August 2004, at age 34.

Desailly, meanwhile, had played only one match in the tournament, against Croatia, due to knee pain. Domenech noted, however, that he regretted more the departures of Zidane, Lilian Thuram and Claude Makélélé, who also left after this failed Euro.

On the method of building a squad list, the former manager also shared his thinking: “The idea is also to know what organization we CAN play in, not what we WANT to play in. Why take 6 centre-backs if we’re only going to play with 2?” He stressed the importance of building a group capable of adapting to several systems, noting that “the level of players in key positions often makes the difference” and that this selection moment “will condition the entire training camp and the match.”