France manager Didier Deschamps has praised the strength of Lassana Diarra for staying with the national side, despite suffering a personal tragedy during the terror attacks on Paris.
The 30-year-old has revealed that his cousin was one of the victims of the atrocities that struck the French capital last week.
Despite his personal loss, Diarra has stayed with the France squad ahead of their friendly with England on Tuesday evening, and Deschamps has been quick to pay tribute to the midfielder.
"Of course two of our squad have been profoundly touched by the terrible incidents," Deschamps told reporters. "On the one hand, [Antoine] Griezmann was fortunate enough to have a feeling of relief and happiness – the fact that his sister managed to stay alive in the incident that happened at the Bataclan concert.
"Lass unfortunately has been touched deeply by the loss of a relative who he was very, very close to. We've managed to stay together. I think that it's great that he's stayed with us. I've talked with both the lads, as I have with a lot of the players and I think that his presence has almost been a sense of reassurance for us.
"Lassana has been very strong. He, as we all have, has learnt the value of unity and solidarity. I can only repeat at this time the message that Lassana Diarra has put out on social media, the very strong message that sport knows no colour and knows no religion."
Deschamps has also said that his team will represent France with pride during their match against the Three Lions.
Alex Meyers
