Varane’s FORCED retirement: the story behind a sad end for a LEGEND

[@lucaslonchampt613]

I held the belief back in 2018 that he should have won the Ballon D'Or. His importance in the defense for Real Madrid and France was immense I find it poetic that the last we saw of him in a French jersey was at the 2022 World Cup final. He did one last important defensive action, and then he had to be subbed out. He fell on all fours. He gave everything he had to offer until his body said stop. A warrior to the end

[@keanejoshua9527]

World class

[@londresparis_1]

Defenders don't win awards like the ballon d'Or.

[@lithamoshoeshoe4641]

@@londresparis_1 Cannavaro did. Nowadays its just Messi's award.

[@lucaslonchampt613]

@@londresparis_1 I know. And I find that stupid

[@navis462]

Damn you must have seen something no one, and I mean no one else saw that 2017/2018 season. We lost to Barcelona by 15 points in the league and almost bottled it against Juventus at the bernabeu champions league quarterfinals. It’s not exactly a memorable season in terms of singling out anyone in particular let alone Varane. It was a season where Madrids champions league know how saw us through to the very end. So… Hyperbole, pure hyperbole.

[@kshitijpandey6514]

Varane was so good that he debuted for RM since he was 18 And first choice since he was 22 for RM Let that sink in And people say Van Dijk is better than him As a Barca fan I had always respected varane he was such a silent warrior unlike his counter part who was outspoken and downright dangerous But the guy was a classy defender Hope he enjoys his retirement

[@Dependentabsicca]

His debut was against barca only, scored a goal and looked great in that match

[@SymonGeno]

Yes, a centre back who finished 2nd in a balon d'or race when Messi and Ronaldo were still around is better than Varane. It isn't a bad thing at all

[@Bellaciaao]

@@SymonGenoballon d’or is a fake prize little man

[@Lechedeesnuts]

@@SymonGeno ah yes, let's only base everything on ballon d'or rankings......

[@Juicerock12]

Van Dijk is without a doubt better than Varane lmao

[@jayantasen2406]

I will forever remember his running in from behind inch-perfect slide tackles against Messi during the El-Classicos. He was a beast in his days! Farewell, legend.

[@PoliAstroN]

Varane is so respected, yet he is still underrated. English media bias as usual. Varane + Ramos partnership is right up there in the best defending duos EVER. They won EVERYTHING.

[@Kuromori-v9z]

Varane + Ramos is the center back partnership that the English media is trying to make us believe Van Dijk + Gomez is but never will be.

[@konzza]

Varane is only under appreciated for his awful, injury ravaged stint in England. Prime Real Varane and Ramos were never underrated at any quarters. Quit making shit up bro.

[@fredrickmazeli8340]

​@@Kuromori-v9zno one has ever tried to hype up a van dijk gomez partnership what are you on about??😂😂 Prime liverpool was big VVD with Matip and now it's VVD and Konate

[@ammarharith5512]

​@@Kuromori-v9z VVD is still a much better defender individually than Ramos & Varane. 😅

[@Kuromori-v9z]

@@ammarharith5512 No, no he isn't lmao.

[@StarfieldEditz]

It's such a sad day indeed. I was looking forward to see how far he and Como would go this season, but unfortunately got that knee injury. Under Zidane, Varane became one of the best defenders in the world winning the champions league three peat and getting into the fifpro best ix in 2018. For France he played an essential role to help them win the WC back in 2018 and also reaching the finals again in 2022. He also won the nations league in 2021. His time at Manchester Utd wasn't the best period of his career, constantly plagued with injuries. However he did managed to grab the FA cup and Carabao Cup to his name. I hope he ( Varane) enjoys his retirement and maybe come back to the game, probably as a sporting director or something 😅😅😅. Thanks so much for playing your amazing football ⚽️ 🙌

[@boisesoccer]

I was wondering what had happened to Varane since his move to Como.😢😢😢 Maybe not a long footballing career that he had, but it was full of achievements with Real Madrid, France National Team, and of course, with Manchester United. 👌👍💪

[@NandoFIT-df8ly]

his decline actually began in 2020 when he made 2 mistakes vs man city that caused real madrid to get eliminated. that somewhat ruined his real madrid legacy because madrid sold him the following summer and united is an awful club as usual so no chance he could return to his peak level and injuries made everything much worse

[@saivishalkannan3136]

​​@@NandoFIT-df8ly fair enough, but he was mostly injured at United. However, he was our best CB whenever he played alongside Martinez. So, we really got the best out of him despite his recurring injuries. The only regret is that he didn't win the premier league title.

[@javierlandaverde4108]

Mmm I think he will be back. I feel that’s more of falling out of love with football.

[@sebastianquinchia1840]

​​@@NandoFIT-df8ly the funny/sad thing is that 2020 season for Varane was mostly excellent until those mistakes and now that's all some fans remember of that season. He saved us so many times that season but that one game was an unfortunately spectacular collapse from him.

[@ezraezra2928]

What happened to Raphael Varane more recently seems to be an early warning for most of the great footballers when it comes to the injuries. Recently, Rodri had a brutal ACL injury when Manchester City faced Arsenal that forced him to end this season prematurely. That guy was literally "irreplaceable" for both Manchester City and Spain, as both teams had always won every games as long as he's on the pitch, resulting in major trophies for both club (4 Premier Leagues in a row and last year's Treble for Manchester City) and the national team (Euro with Spain), while becoming one of the big favorites on winning this year's Ballon d'Or (along with Vini Jr and Jude Bellingham). Rodri had even made a similar statement regarding the overcrowding football schedules before that injury. That's a shame how this "Invincible" guy had become a mortal again only because of the seemingly career threatening injuries related to the expanded games.

[@epursimuove1633]

We could just allow more subs and have larger teams. Would lead to more interesting tactics and apprehension would become a part of the game again.

[@akunwanneprosper7016]

They should stop starting all games, simple

[@maciejbala477]

@@epursimuove1633 yeah, that's true. Honestly I wouldn't really mind it if you had way more substitutions. Maybe allow to rotate players in and out. But well, would still have to be really smooth and done with limited game stoppage

[@maciejbala477]

@@akunwanneprosper7016 I agree. But the issue is often also that some players do want to start all games, because they want to play. But at the same time there's too many matches to play. And then if managers don't start their best 11 in all the games (minus maybe like the League Cup in England or cup games against weak opposition), they'll get the stick from the media, and also from some players. It's a very precarious balance. But yeah, reminds me of how I play football manager, I always rotate a lot and make sure to have 25 players in my squad all the time if I can afford to do so (can't do more because UCL registration rules), but then some players will get upset at me for being rotated out when unfit, so I need to make promises to start them more.

[@lesh4815]

@@epursimuove1633 I feel larger teams would ruin the aspect of the game by creating a big gap between top teams and mid teams. Cos only the big teams could afford to do that with quality players which will cos a huge disparity. And larger teams could only form by taking the best players of these mid teams and fairytale storylines like Ajax in the champions league, Leicester city, 2017 AS Monaco will cease to exist. Also, despite what fans will tell you, top players will always want to start so then there's that problem in terms of rotation. And when stakes are high, a manager will not want to rotate his starting 11. I remember Pep last season saying that his players do not even do physical training towards the end of the season, considering they were still in contention to win all their competitions late last season. And this also creates a problem for the youth getting minutes, as mentioned before when the stakes are high, a manager aint changing his formula especially to give a youth a chance. This reminds me of Arsenal being ranked one of the lowest in terms of youth minutes in the premier league and can you really blame Arteta when you are battling head to head with the evil institution that is Man City. Removing the nations league, pointless international breaks, removing the club world cup and adding winter break in premier league and IDEALLY reverting back to the old european formats will do a LOT for the quality of the game, considering football is the only global sport without a significant off-season.

[@soumnag7388]

Celebrated starboy, what a champ

[@MarcosLCoco]

I love him! he is a legend through and through and i will miss him. Been watching him since he made his debut at RM

[@c_beno3416]

I have missed this guy's career. His arrival at Madrid coincided with a moment in mh life when I stopped folowing football... crazy to hear about his career

[@allinidelaforce]

Hello respect mr varan ,its not a sad end.he won everything and his body has endured a lot

[@TheOnlyTaps]

Will always remember his great performances for us ❤. A shame it all ended a bit earlier than expected but glad we got to see him at his best and he got to lift a world cup. I selfishly wanted him to stay at Madrid as a rotation player after Militão took the starting spot but can understand why he had to continue his career elsewhere.

[@milk__teee]

I respect varane the most out of Real Madrid defenders for the past decade. He was humble, he wasn’t trash talking and he did his job. I hope he has a good retirement since clearly his body couldn’t handle football much longer. And imo, it’s alright for these guys to retire at 30, a lot of people still wanna be able to walk or at least run when they are 40, or 50. If he tried to play at the top longer, he could get a bad injury that could make him not able to run at all. It’s not like his technical or defending ability are gone, his body not being able to handle foot, allows him to retire now.

[@jesusnunez3041]

such phenomenal content and analysis. thanks for the entertainment and props for the amazing video

[@pysky4u]

Legend. Glad we sent him off the right way

[@Madiela]

man after all these years I still vividy remember that Mourinho quote as if it was said yesterday

[@SpaztasticSheep]

The day he left Madrid was like a knife to the heart for Madrid fans. We adore him so fucking much. Incredible player, often underrated by fans of other clubs. And above all, among the most loyal and humble servants of the club we've had in recent times. Missing him, even now.

[@bayokoebi9351]

He started playing professionally at age 17 with so much trophies so it has really impacted him so much

[@lwandomadikizela2213]

If only Manchester United signed Varane much earlier than we did in 2021. I can never forget that unveiling of Varane on the opening day against Leeds when we smashed them and I thought we can challenge for the Premier League title and could win it should we sign a CDM. Boy, it was a complete trainwreck that season and Varane couldn't stay fit in most cases. When he's fit he's out best defender by a long shot and won more games with him. If only we signed Varane in 2018 then we would be title contenders under Mourinho after his excellent season with Madrid and France and be right up there with City when we were a CB away from a Premier League title charge. I'm glad Varane played for Manchester United but at the same time sad that we didn't sign him earlier when we were on the rise again.

[@MrSmith1984]

For all the talk about player fatigue on his part, it's quite telling that he never called for an increase in the size of player squads. Nor for Real Madrid or Manchester United to sign additional CBs.

[@Kayf13]

legend

[@pjalaniz86]

I used to be a barça fan then i became a varane fan... so disappointed to see how his carrer has ended

[@estigmabastos]

Once mourinho said varane was the future and pepe de past. Both ended their carrers in the same year

[@c_beno3416]

Como be like "👀 but we paid for one game...?"

[@OrlandoOrtiz570]

Dude started winning games for Real Madrid at 19 years old.

[@EuricoThrasher]

Good one,my benfiquista brother

[@rayb8732]

Knew him by age 18 playing for Madrid.. 😢

[@salamandress]

He was well on his way to being one of the greatest defenders ever but idk he didnt decline once he got to United, he wasnt very good for Real from 2018 onward. Mightve been injuries but you could tell he was in a decline since the last UCL they won.

[@f2g286]

What's funny is , this is the 2nd player that left united and free and having to retire early , however pogba situation is different , we almost saw de gea retire tooand guess what all 3 ended up in Serie A since leaving united on a free

[@nont18411]

But De Gea didn’t suffer any injury. You can blame United for many things but not everything.

[@uriustosh]

He done well for himself.

[@muhammadomar997]

Given players are now debuting at 16-17 in Tier 1 football, I think modern careers will be around 31-32. Think about the workload and schedule new players now have.

[@maciejbala477]

That really depends on the club. For instance, look at Man City, people give them stick for not playing their youngsters enough and often also not loaning them out, but maybe they are right to do so.

[@ugoeze7360]

Maybe it’s just me being a football casual and not as hip to the big names in the game, but devils advocate: when does winning a multitude of team trophies but no individual trophies, make you a legend? Is it because you one them as a starter vs. riding the pine as a substitute? If that is the case, how does it play if you have to sit out many of the time because of injury? Can one say it is being in the right place at the right time?

[@rumpelstiltskn5574]

...you clearly are a 'casual' then. 😒😒😏😂🤣😂🤣

[@GrisGrisPhill]

Nahh you’re on to something. Messi and cr7 are legends for all the trophies plus all the individual accomplishments, but will we remember Varane the same way we look at messi and cr7? No freaking way

[@rumpelstiltskn5574]

@@GrisGrisPhill ...I take it you're merely exercising your entitlement to an opinion then! 🤔😒😒😏😂🤣😂🤣😂

[@M.S.1.5]

Praying for the best for the legend of the game and I do hope he continues to advocate player's health and pressure the footballing goons (UEFA and FIFA) to eliminate unnecessary competitions.

[@mikeybarrett429]

Pepe was 29 at the time. There’s 10 years between the 2 players not 12. Great video tho

[@dasdassdarrrr]

Varane good

[@supersonic1273]

Bro… you kinda looking like Luigi…😳. Like your videos though, and Mario brothers😊.

[@Drunken_Master]

I want to retire at 31

[@jayfusion555]

He wins MAJOR trophies. MOST don't. 👀

[@Siickem92]

to be fair to Varane Pepe was doing the hurting lol 3:44

[@azizulhakimtimin4871]

He definitely not the best but great cb for sure. His injury record is truly unfortunate

[@havoc0370]

The irony is Pepe and Varane retired in the same year😂

[@Hortense-xx8ih]

Seul Dieu peut te guéri amen est confiance

[@chilibeer3912]

That injury list didn’t deter United?

[@Dark_Knight2610]

Dude made millions yes you will play more games if i was in charge

[@somnath1235]

although we should take things in context .. Pepe was still too good .. Varane wasn't an upgrade as such ... but it was more of an ego clash ... overall Pepe has been a much better defender than Varane ... Varane is world class but Pepe is in the legendary bracket ... (I am not talking about his bahaviour in his initial days though... Varane is a much much better professional)

[@thus.spoke.zarathustra]

Pepe was the best defender in euros this season. Ofcourse Pepe is better

[@FurioussBear]

His career ended the moment united showed interest 😂

[@brunokagawa6287]

He did very well at United though.

[@niamh9500]

hw won two trophies and played for the biggest club In engand and properly the world.. he did good

[@FurioussBear]

@niamh9500 he jammed his way to 2 trophies and played for what was once the biggest club in England (definitely not the world) and are now an absolute embarrassment in their own city

[@Lyralikesit]

Going to Man United ruined his carreer... just like every other players carreer that went to United in the poat Fergie era... even worse in the Ten Hag era

[@WavyKane]

Imagine going from playing with Sergio Ramos to playing with Harry Maguire. What a sad downgrade😔

[@TurinTurambar-oc4nv]

Thanks god united signed casemiro and varane, top atheltes but not technical players, and when they were downgrading bc the age they appear. Thanks utd

[@pysky4u]

@@WavyKane he played with L Martinez tho

[@niteshanthony2324]

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.🎉❤🎉🎉😊😊😊🎉🎉

[@vimjoltuladhar6114]

🤍

[@Serai-l7z]

More trophies than Harry Kane

[@connorshea2823]

French guy complain about working too much. Never heard that one.

[@kwykwyk8447]

Varane is a legend... Underrated but legendary Sidenote, can we stop listing club world cup as an accomplishment? I don't think it boosts a career if we're taking about a truly great player

[@ryanergo754]

An achievement is an achievement. If we are talking about that, trophies are a shit measuring stick for judging quality in any way.

[@HBear1985]

2* questionable champions leagues

[@frankmelo2191]

Legend,,,not so sure. Seen him make a fair amount of mistakes that a player with that much experience shouldn’t be making.

[@Dharcness]

Another footballer destroyed by utd

[@liamdeandrad-alway4882]

You can’t feel too bad for someone who gets paid mega $$ to play football

[@londresparis_1]

Rapahel Varane, exceptional player. But calling him a legend is a stretch.

[@williamguzman5623]

He was another crying baby like De Bruyne. That’s what happens when you play a league who supports having another tournament like the carabao cup

[@sentiasatransformasi]

he went to man utd n didn’t realize man utd is better than real madrid in terms of difficulty

[@renaultmeganesuperleggera]

Yeah life is hard when you're surrounded by clowns and incompetent people. Yet he also manages to win international trophies instead of only competitions in Spain.

[@akunwanneprosper7016]

Is Varane old? LoL

[@ianhague8292]

NaaaaaH! It's a cop out,he couldn't hack it! He wanted more money for less work 😂

[@theone9631]

Man united, where careers go to die

[@pysky4u]

@@theone9631 nice bait

[@senyorchilling]

@@pysky4unot even bait at this point 😭

[@konzza]

​@@pysky4u Yup. Actually don't like ManU at all, but it's pathetic how some people have the need to make anything about them.

[@theone9631]

@@konzza how did I make it about myself. Just take a look at the signings over the past years. Literally none of them have worked out expect for like Martinez. Even Ronaldo got out of there since the coach didn’t respect him. The club has lost its identity

[@konzza]

Unsubsricbed. Why can't we talk about the amount of games, as the video started with that point?

[@jamilsulemana8879]

Eff off then!

[@rodrigofonseca6241]

Nothing against the guy, but he's no legend, otherwise we have to use novilíngua to label actual legends... such as Pepe😉

[@Reaper_ginger]

Varane is a legend, Pepe is an icon. I’m not a Madrid fan so I can’t say whether he’s a club legend for them and maybe he’s not a club legend to them but as a footballer in general he’s a legend from the point of his overall career

[@Juicerock12]

@@Reaper_gingerVarane isn’t a legend either lol

[@senyorchilling]

@@Reaper_gingersince when did people just start calling every single athlete that retires a legend

[@Reaper_ginger]

@@senyorchilling looks at his career and accolades he’s definitely a legend

[@takundamukuhlani2419]

World cup winner, multiple champions league winner, multiple la Liga winner he's definitely a legend

[@MurvMuzik]

He was never a legend. Stop it

[@MarcoPolo-su2fc]

Players need to revolt with these many games.