Diarra’s senseless remarks highlight France’s lack of leadership

MAYBE the spirit of Patrick Vieira lives on after all.

The midfielder, still France’s captain, was no stranger to some rows in his time, and whether he was on the pitch sometimes made little difference at all (the tunnel bust-up with Manchester United in 2005 springs to mind).

And yet there was something unnecessary about whatever Lassana Diarra said to Keith Andrews after the final whistle: France had got the result they needed and the last thing Raymond Domenech would have wanted to face on Wednesday was an angry opposition with added motivation.