France's Mathys Tel hopes to continue 'story to tell my kids' with final looming

Mathys Tel is only 17, but the France captain is already dreaming about the stories he could tell his children if he leads his country to the 2022 UEFA European Under-17 Championship.

Tel has enjoyed a breakthrough season for Rennes, featuring in the UEFA Europa Conference League and making his domestic top-flight debut for the French club.

His progress in the 2021/22 campaign has taken him to Israel, where he has made a stellar contribution to his nation's run to the semi-finals, scoring three times in four final tournament appearances.

The teenage forward, however, tells UEFA.com he has no intention of resting on his laurels.

"It's a learning experience, I take it positively. It's not something you experience every day. It's my first EURO, and it's fantastic. I want to take my team higher and win the Championship; to not have any regrets, and perhaps tell my children about it," Tel says in the lobby of the Ramat Gan hotel the France team has called home for the last two weeks.

"We're here to win the tournament, so there are steps to take. The finish line is just behind a big wall. Are we going to do it? I don't know, but we have the team for that, the technical staff for that. I think there's something we can do, and we'll try to do it."

Tel is keen to point out that France's progress has been a team effort, but the hopes of José Alcocer's squad rested in the quarter-finals on the shoulders of their captain, who needed to score the fifth penalty in a gripping shoot-out with Germany. Wasn't he nervous on the long walk to the penalty area?

'You have to stay calm, believe in yourself and your team'

"It's long and it's not long. You start to go into your bubble. You have to stay calm, believe in yourself and your team," he explains. "I said to myself, 'You have to stay calm'. It's a technical gesture, we're footballers. We work on that every day. There's pressure, and sometimes that puts you off. But I said to myself, I have to stay calm, and take my responsibility as the captain."

He did, beating Germany goalkeeper Dennis Seimen before immediately pointing to his head to remind his teammates they now had to keep theirs. One successful Zoumana Diallo penalty and another Germany miss later, and France were through to the last four, and they repeated the trick to see off Portugal and clinch a place in the final.

"Being captain isn't about being nasty, about shouting at players," adds Tel, whose side claimed what looked like being an improbable victory having missed their first two penalties against Germany. "You have to stay positive whatever happens."