Valbuena brings good feelings to French squad in need of lift

Upbeat approach a welcome contrast to surly behaviour from Samir Nasri

France national team players, from left, Mathieu Valbuena, Karim Benzema, Paul Pogba, Eliaquim Mangala, Olivier Giroud and Laurent Koscielny warm up during a training session in Ribeirao Preto on June 17, 2014. Charles Platiau / ReutersShow less

RIBEIRAO PRETO // Mathieu Valbuena has had the last laugh over former tormentors Samir Nasri and Franck Ribery after becoming integral to France's World Cup hopes.

The pocket-sized 29 year old, nicknamed the “little bike”, has always punched above his weight and never shirked a challenge.

Thus, he finally established himself for his country ahead of Nasri after the epic two-leg play-off win over Ukraine last November.

His usually cheery disposition helped earn Valbuena a place over the more skilful Nasri, whose bad-boy image and disruptive influence counted against him when Dider Deschamps named his squad.

Valbuena, born near Bordeaux to a Spanish father and a French mother, will have shed no tears over his omission, given that Nasri and Ribery ganged up on him when he first arrived at Marseille, making a particular point of singling him out because of his lack of height – he stands just 1.52 metres.

“When I see them at the national side get-togethers, I prefer to make light of what went on because the story is over,” he said last year.

“Despite it being over, I still have a bad memory of what went on. To be systematically singled out for bad jokes really hurts.

“Nobody else in the dressing room would have put up being targeted like I was. I was not ready to be subjected to that. I was too nice, but I am now made of harder stuff.”

Valbuena, who has scored five goals in 35 international appearances since making his debut in 2010, may not have earned a big-money move abroad like Ribery or Nasri have done. But Deschamps, for whom Valbuena was an integral part of the Marseille side he coached to the 2010 title, is overjoyed to have such a cheerful presence at the finals.

“He [Valbuena] has been superb for us for the past two years,” Deschamps said.

“He arrived with a big smile, a great eagerness to succeed, and you can see that on the pitch. You can really feel it. He has never been better than he has been for France coming into the finals.”

Guy Stephan, assistant coach to Deschamps at the national level as he was at Marseille, summed up the importance of Valbuena to the France set-up.

“Mathieu is indispensable,” he said. “He has been given a role he has never had before. Didier has allowed him a lot of freedom to move around and animate the flow of the game, but he knows that he has to get out to a flank if we lose the ball.

“He is an extraordinarily giving person on the pitch.”

Valbuena drew criticism last season from some who said his performances for Marseille lacked the enthusiasm and level of previous seasons, whereas when he pulled on the French team shirt in the warm-up games, he was transformed back into the hard-working, effective player that people remembered.

“Since he was very young, he was always like that,” said fellow France player Rio Mavuba, who came through the youth system with Valbuena.

“He loves it when there were big matches. He loves that pressure.”

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