"You're not a starter at that age in a Liverpool team which were European champions by accident" - Didier Deschamps lauds Liverpool's Ibrahima Konate after France call up for 2022 FIFA World Cup

France manager Didier Deschamps heaped praise on Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate after selecting the defender for France's 25-man squad for the FIFA World Cup. He stated that there was nothing accidental about him starting for a top team like Liverpool at age 22 and he fully deserves the spot

Since his arrival at the club last year, the former RB Leipzig player has made 33 appearances for Jurgen Klopp's side. Last season, he helped Liverpool win the FA Cup and the Carabao Cup.

Konate has played four games for the Reds so far this season. Konate has faced injury issues so far this season. Despite that Deschamps pointed out that without evident quality, one doesn't get to be a starter in a team like the Reds. They have been successful in domestic and European competitions in recent times.

The 2018 World Cup winning manager said:

"You're not a starter at that age in a Liverpool team which were European champions by accident."

Didier Deschamps on calling up Ibrahima Konaté:

"You're not a starter at that age in a Liverpool team which were European champions by accident."

France have called-up nine defenders in their 25-man squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

France World Cup list 🚨🇫🇷

▫️ Areola, Lloris, Mandanda;

▫️ L. Hernandez, Theo Hernandez, Kimpembe, Koundé. Konaté, Pavard, Saliba, Upamecano, Varane;

▫️ Camavinga, Fofana, Guendouzi, Rabiot, Tchouaméni, Veretout;

▫️ Benzema, Coman, Dembélé, Giroud, Griezmann, Mbappé, Nkunku. https://t.co/43Q2FLJf0l

Apart from Konate, Bayern Munich trio Dayot Upamecano, Lucas Hernandez, Benjamin Pavard and Manchester United's Raphael Varane have been selected. Barcelona's Jules Kounde, Arsenal's William Saliba, Paris Saint-Germain's Presnel Kimpembe, and AC Milan's Theo Hernandez have also been called up.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp liked his team's performance in EFL Cup win against Derby County

Liverpool earned a 3-2 penalty shootout win against Derby county in their EFL Cup clash on Wednesday, 9 November. After the game ended as a draw, Caoimhín Kelleher came clutch between the posts. Harvey Elliott netted the winning penalty. Jurgen Klopp was happy with the team's performance as he told the media after the game (via Liverpool's official website):

"Liked it, I liked it again. It is the most difficult thing in football if you are put in a team together and you face an opponent who is deep defending, [has] a lot of legs, counter-attacking, long ball, set-pieces, all these kind of things. We obviously didn’t have a lot of time to prepare the game but we could at least train once because with this team, that’s why we changed.

"That’s what I said last year - people always don’t like it when you get knocked out and it’s like, ‘[The team was] Very young, you don’t take the competition serious.’ Was never true but we have to do two things: make sure we don’t risk anybody, that’s very important, and the other thing is that we really love to give the boys the opportunity."

He added:

"So you can now imagine, even if we lose the game tonight in a penalty shootout, if the people wouldn’t have seen Stefan, Bobby, Ben, Mel, Layton, Fabio is only a little bit older, if at all, Calvin of course, and then Harvey comes on. So, there were eight or nine really young boys and it’s so nice to see them, that you can give them the opportunity to play real man’s football against a team who wanted to get through obviously."