French defender Raphaël Varane warned about the concussions that footballers can suffer and revealed that he himself suffered at least two in his career. The first of them was with the French national team at the 2014 World Cup held in Brazil, and the other in a Champions League match while defending the colors of Real Madrid.
“I damaged my body,” said the Manchester United center-back in an interview published by the newspaper L’Equipe, in which he calls for more attention to be paid to this type of situation. “When you look at the three worst games of my career, there are at least two in which I had a concussion a few days before,” he stated.
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The first of those matches he referred to is the defeat in the quarterfinals at the Maracanã against Germany, the team that would end up being the champion in Brazilian lands. A few days earlier, in the round of 16 at the Estádio Nacional Mané Garrincha (Brasilia), Varane suffered a blow to the head against Nigeria.
“At the beginning of the second half, there was a cross, I hit the ball with my temple, and it ended up in the opponent’s net. I finished the match, but I was in ‘autopilot’ mode,” he admitted. He explained that after that, “I was weakened,” but decided to play anyway after being consulted by the coaching staff.
“What we will never know is what would have happened if I had received another impact to the head. When they tell you that repeated concussions can have a deadly effect, then you consider that it could turn out very badly,” pointed out the defender, who retired from the French national team in 2022.
The other occasion when Varane said he suffered a concussion was in the second leg of the Champions League round of 16 in 2020. That day, the Merengue was eliminated after losing 2-1 away to Manchester City, the same result that occurred in the first leg at the Santiago Bernabéu.
