"I had a concussion against Man City"

Manchester City and Real Madrid meet again in a tie that has become a regular fixture in the Champions League. They have met on several occasions in recent years, but perhaps none more so than in 2020. Or at least that's how Varane remembers it.

The French centre-back spoke to 'L'Equipe' about the match in which he was marked out. Four years later, he explained why it happened and why he wasn't 'in' the match.

"During that match I had a concussion. I felt it from the warm-up. I almost wanted to slap myself. During the match, my first 3 balls were technically clean, but I was too slow. I couldn't concentrate, I was like a spectator. The match went badly for me and, in retrospect, I realised it was related to the shock I had suffered," he said.

It's been a while, but Varane 'blames' that concussion for his performance. "I've never missed these kinds of important games, on the contrary, they're usually the ones where I manage to be the most focused. At first I took the elimination personally, even though collectively we weren't having a good day. I questioned myself a lot and finally I realised that these mistakes had not fallen from the sky".

"During a league match, I received a ball on my head in a corner and had to leave the field. I followed a 5-day recovery protocol without much effort. Then we had a few days off and I remember feeling an intense tiredness, but I thought it was related to the usual end-of-season decompression," said Varane.

"When I resumed training, I had not yet recovered from the fatigue linked to the shock I had suffered. I felt I had no energy preparing for the Champions League game against City, but I wasn't aware that it had anything to do with the knock. Maybe if I had done a test to assess my recovery abilities, I would have postponed my return and then I could have played again with a normal level of energy," he wondered.