Speech by Man Utd's Patrice Evra spurred France to victory, say team-mates

Manchester United defender Patrice Evra has been praised by his France team-mates for a half-time speech that spurred them on to victory against Belarus.

Didier Deschamps’ side was trailing 1-0 at the interval, but left-back Evra’s intervention at the interval is being credited with a dramatic turnaround that resulted in France winning 4-2.

Bayern Munich star Franck Ribery said: “Patrice gave a good speech in the dressing room, a man’s speech. He said we had to play, to relax.”

Winger Mathieu Valbuena said that when the team headed in at the break there was a “great silence in the locker room” at first.

He added: “The message from Patrice Evra buoyed us.”