Looks like Samir Nasri is showing his true colours again. After that one England performance, he seems to have reverted to his usual "I am in it for myself" routine.
He's getting plenty of censure from his team mates for being peripheral to the Sweden game which resulted in an embarrassing loss and setting themselves on a collision course with defending Euro and World Cup champions, Spain.
One person who is talking is Florent Malouda. The veteran Chelsea winger admits Nasri's performance at the Euros have sparked this edition of French divisive locker room politics.
"Balance is fragile and when you start thinking you're at the Euro to shine individually then the wheels can start to come off. You pay very dearly for every error at a Euro. There's personal objectives and then there are collective objectives."
"He scored an important goal against England. But as an experienced player I can say that there is a balance to be found between the team and your personal objectives."
Alain Boghossian, the assistant coach also indicates that Nasri is being shunned by his team mates for being what we saw at an Arsenal and now at City. A self centered player who quickly abandons teams for personal gain.
This is nothing new. France has always been the repository of dysfunctional talent.
Their 2010 World Cup campaign came unglued as the team became embroiled in a scandal that reflected France's uneasy alliance between its many different ethnic and cultural indentities. In 2006, Vikash Dhorasoo's personal grouse at being left out from the starting squad by Raymond Domenech was captured on video by the player and released as a film to the huge embarrassment of the former national manager. France was somehow able to right the ship and entered the finals against Italy. In the 2008 Euro, France collapsed in the group stage, after Domenech brought back Claude Makelele and Lilian Thuram from retirement to bolster an aging squad amidst accusations of being a slave driver.
Nasri's a punk ass bitch. He won it all with City and then had to gloat. Stay quiet and people might excuse your leaving. And then I heard he was griping about the French press. Now this.
Zidane held them together I always felt because he was one of the greatest of all time. He routinely toyed with opponents, even in WC finals. But he must have been a good guy in the locker room to keep the ship afloat.
I'm torn with the Spain France match. On the one hand, I want someone to oust the perennial winners but on the other hand, Nasri is pissing me off so much I can't be bothered pulling for the French.