In a gleaming white Manchester United training suit Raphaël Varane emanates the kind of pre-FA Cup final cool that will be a boon to teammates when trying to claim a second trophy of the season and halt Manchester City’s tilt at the treble in Saturday’s Wembley showpiece.
Not that the France World Cup winner and four-time Champions League victor with Real Madrid is characterising taking on Pep Guardiola’s gilded team in any way that might allow his quotes to be dressing-room motivation fodder.
On a sun-drenched day at United’s Carrington base, Varane says: “We want to win and that’s the only objective we have. We don’t try to stop them, we want to win for the club.”
The 30-year-old is far more bullish when a particular F-word is put to him regarding what he and the rest of Erik ten Hag’s players may feel when attempting a repeat of January’s derby victory at Old Trafford.
“Fear? No. Why?” says Varane. “Every game is a challenge and I like to challenge myself, we like to challenge other teams too as a group. The most important is to believe. It doesn’t matter if it is a team in good or bad form, the challenge is in front of us and we have to accept it and do our best to win.”
Varane is clear that he and other senior players, including Bruno Fernandes, Casemiro, David de Gea, Marcus Rashford and Luke Shaw, can lead the charge against Erling Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne, Jack Grealish et al.
“Pressure is something we are used to playing with and we need pressure to be at our top,” he says. “It’s not that kind of pressure that limits you. When the pressure is higher I’m more talking and shouting on the pitch – more connected. When you are free you run faster” – he laughs – “so bigger pressure means more you can give.”
In January, goals from Fernandes and Rashford secured a comeback victory for United at Old Trafford after Grealish’s opener. Varane relished a win that was the perfect riposte to October’s 6-3 humiliation at the Etihad Stadium.
He says of that win: “When something looks impossible, it’s when I feel: ‘OK [let’s try].’ That expectation to do something impossible, what looks impossible. When the challenge is big I feel more motivation and that came then.
“As a team we defended very well. City is a team that creates the most chances in a game, and that game in the first half they were very good. So we have to do this performance to win the Cup and obviously if we have one chance we have to score. We have to be efficient.”
Varane, who had one season in the first team at Lens before Real signed him in summer 2011, has become more streamlined himself as a smoothly calm presence in the United backline.
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“I can read the game better now and anticipate actions much more,” he says. “I am sprinting less on the pitch. I read [the situation] before to be in a good position. A big part of my game, you can’t see on TV, I think: it’s about 2 metres on the right and 2 metres on the left. I think I am much more in a good position.
“The evolution of my game is interesting. I make less tackles and less sprints so that means I am using the positioning very well. That’s one of my strengths.”
This allows Varane to help teammates. “I have more time to connect with the players around me, to be in good positions,” he adds. “As a team as well when sometimes we go for pressing but are not ready, I can help them to choose the right moment to slow down or to speed up. So I feel more connected with the game, the pace of it.”
Haaland scored a blistering hat-trick in the 6-3 defeat but was kept muted in the return. Varane says: “He’s a very good player, we all know that, but the danger from City is everywhere. They are very complete. They can score from set plays, a possession game and from a transition game. We know we have to stop them collectively as a group.”
Varane is keenly aware of how Haaland and De Bruyne can link up. “That kind of pass is complicated to defend, so we try to cut that connection. We try to stop them earlier and not at the end because sometimes it’s too late. We know we have to be strong. That was part of the plan [in the 2-1] because they have a lot of connections and can change systems and have a different approach to games. It’s one of the things we have to work on.
“We know we are able to beat any team. We showed that this season. We know we can beat them but we know they are good. We have to learn from the games we played against them and need a great performance, be consistent for 90 minutes, because we know everything can change in a few seconds.”
In February, United beat Newcastle 2-0 at Wembley to win the Carabao Cup. Varane hopes for a second triumph at the home of the English game. “The FA Cup is huge here in England, I have a big respect for the fans, so I know how important this competition – this game – is to them,” he says. “When it’s a final, you want to win it.”
