Rayan Cherki played 78 minutes as France began the Zinedine Zidane era with a 1-0 Nations League victory over Turkey on Friday night.
The City midfielder was named in Zidane’s first starting XI as France manager, lining up alongside Manu Kone and Adrien Rabiot in midfield.
Cherki was given licence to operate behind a front three of Michael Olise, Ousmane Dembele and Kylian Mbappe as Zidane made an immediate place for the 23-year-old in his new-look side.
Cherki gets 78 minutes in Zidane’s first France win
France found the going difficult in Izmit and went into half-time goalless, but the breakthrough arrived nine minutes after the restart. Olise supplied the pass and Mbappe finished to give France the lead and Zidane his first goal as national team manager. The France captain’s night ended soon afterwards, however, when a knee problem forced him off in the 59th minute.
Cherki remained on until the 78th minute, when he and Olise were replaced by Eduardo Camavinga and Bradley Barcola respectively. Turkey continued to threaten and France goalkeeper Mike Maignan was required to make important saves as the hosts pushed for an equaliser. Their hopes suffered a late blow when goalkeeper Ugurcan Cakir was sent off in the 87th minute following a VAR review.
France held on to give Zidane a winning start and Cherki 78 minutes in the new manager’s first side. It was also another useful outing for the City midfielder during the international break, with France back in action against Belgium on Monday night. Cherki will hope to be involved again before returning to Manchester ahead of City’s Premier League campaign resuming next month.
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