Raphaël Varane, former Real Madrid player between 2011 and 2021, has acknowledged, in an interview with L’Équipe, that “in two of my three worst games I had suffered a concussion days before the match.” One of these clashes was against Manchester City in the second leg of the Champions League round of 16 in 2020. The Madrid team lost 2-1 with two errors from the Frenchman, who has stated that in that match “I couldn’t concentrate, it was like a spectator.”
The defender failed in both goals for Pep Guardiola’s team. In the first, Varane relaxed too much in his own area, which caused Gabriel Jesús to steal the ball from him and give it to Sterling to make it 1-0. In the second goal, the Frenchman was also the negative protagonist, as he gave the ball back with little force to his goalkeeper, but the one who appeared there was Gabriel Jesús, who made it 2-1.
Four years later, the French defender has admitted that “during that match I had a concussion. I felt from the warm-up that something was not right, I almost wanted to slap myself to wake up.” Varane attributes his two mistakes in the match to that shock: “At first I took the elimination as something personal, I questioned myself a lot. However, I realized that these mistakes had not fallen from the sky,” says the Manchester United defender .
The centre-back has also assured that during the days prior to the match against City he was not in good condition: “When I resumed training I had not yet recovered from the fatigue linked to the shock I had suffered. I felt without energy preparing for the match Champions League against Manchester City.”
The cause of this concussion, according to Varane, was a blow he received a month earlier in the league match against Getafe, which took place on July 3, 2020: “During a league match I received a ball on the head in a corner and I had to leave the field. Days later I remember feeling intense tiredness, but I thought it was related to the usual lack of understanding at the end of the season,” declared the world champion.
Likewise, the French player has pointed out that he experienced a similar situation ten years ago, in the 2014 World Cup, when France faced Germany in the quarterfinals: “I felt diminished, but in the end I played and played quite well, although I lost that duel against Hummels (in Germany’s goal). In ten years I did not want to talk about it because it may sound like an apology and it is not,” the former Real Madrid footballer explained.
Finally, Varane explained that “it is key for footballers to recognize when we have a concussion, since it is a real, even vital, health problem.” The center-back has acknowledged that Manchester United are taking precautions with this matter, since “they recommended that we not do more than ten headers per training session,” the French defender concluded.
