Mandanda and Varane pleased for France
Saturday, October 11, 2014
Article summary
Steve Mandanda was glad to be back and Raphaël Varane was pleased to stop club-mate Cristiano Ronaldo scoring while losing to France had upsides for Portugal.
Article top media content
![Karim Benzema and Paul Pogba celebrate a goal in France's 2-1 friendly win against Portugal Karim Benzema and Paul Pogba celebrate a goal in France's 2-1 friendly win against Portugal](https://editorial.uefa.com/resources/0253-0d7f86d02dec-f6a2f855bc18-1000/format/wide1/karim_benzema_and_paul_pogba_celebrate_a_goal_in_france_s_2-1_friendly_win_against_portugal.jpeg?imwidth=158)
Article body
• Goalkeeper Steve Mandanda glad to be back in national colours as France beat Portugal
• Raphaël Varane proud that France stopped club-mate Cristiano Ronaldo from scoring
• Portugal's Ricardo Carvalho welcomes challenging fixture
• Nani rates team-mate Ronaldo as better than Karim Benzema
• Next games: Denmark v Portugal, Armenia v France (Tuesday)
Steve Mandanda, France goalkeeper
We have carried on our good run and beaten a good footballing nation, and we need to continue in the same vein. It was a source of great pride for me to be in goal today as I'd not played for quite some time. I am really pleased from a personal point of view and from a collective standpoint, as we won. There are matches which go well for you and today's was one of those matches for me – I'm pleased with the save I made from Cristiano Ronaldo at 1-0. I am happy as things haven't always been easy for me when it comes to the national team.
Raphaël Varane, France defender
We controlled Cristiano Ronaldo well. We all know his fantastic ability and the fact he didn't score is good for us. We succeeded in being solid at the back. I have known Eliaquim Mangala for quite some time and we understand each other well. Even if there is scope to improve certain things from a tactical point of view, we came out of it well. It may have been a friendly but you saw the intensity in this match and it was a real international fixture – it's always difficult to play against Portugal. We have carried on from our World Cup performances and we're playing good football.
Ricardo Carvalho, Portugal defender
I spoke with the coach and said I felt I could help and that he could call on me. I think it was an important game for us as we came into it off a defeat in our last match. Now we have started something new and I think we are going to build up our confidence and improve. Denmark is an important game for us to try to win. I think everyone in our squad felt this was a good test and of course we were up against some great players, so that will help us to do well in Denmark.
Karim Benzema is a top player as well. Of course Ronaldo is our talisman and he's the best but Karim is also doing very well for his national team and both of them are great players.
William Carvalho, Portugal midfielder
I think that in the first half, we didn't manage to show our full potential. We conceded early and it got harder for us, but we scored in the second half. It was a good game, played between two teams of more or less the same quality.
We are quite confident [about the game against Denmark]. We are training well and I think that if we keep working hard we can improve and win the match.
Nani, Portugal midfielder
Today was not about who is better between Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo. We know who is better. Today was a good game and that was what was most important for both teams.