Santini keeps faith with Barthez

Fabien Barthez remains France’s first-choice goalkeeper despite uncertainty surrounding his future at Manchester United.

That was the message from France coach Jacques Santini on Wednesday as he named the extrovert Barthez in his squad for the friendly international against Switzerland on August 20.

Also in the squad are Zinedine Zidane and Claude Makelele who missed the Confederations Cup due to commitments with Real Madrid who were involved in the race for the Spanish Primera Liga title.

Santini will pick Barthez ahead of Lyon’s Gregory Coupet for the friendly, and has backed the 32-year-old to justify his selection.

Barthez’s prospects do not look so good at United where coach Sir Alex Ferguson is toying with the idea of starting American Tim Howard in Saturday’s season-opening Premiership match at Old Trafford.

Howard did his chances no harm by saving two spot-kicks as United beat Arsenal on penalties in the Community Shield at the weekend.

But Santini has complete faith in the goalkeeper who was a member of France’s triumphant teams at the 1998 World Cup and 2000 European Championships.

“I had Fabien on the phone as well as Alex Ferguson. Fabien remains confident and very motivated,” Santini said Wednesday morning in Paris.

“Ferguson hasn’t given me any clue about his personal view of Barthez’s situation.

“We’ll see what happens in the next few weeks.

“As far as his situation with the French national team is concerned, our view remains the same.

“He is our number one.”

Whether that situation remains unchanged should Barthez be unable to displace summer signing Howard at United can only be guessed at, and Santini was unwilling to speculate.

“We shouldn’t ask ourselves any questions, even if the main rule is that to be selected for the French national team a player has to play with his club.

“I respect Mr Ferguson’s decision.

“We don’t know whether Fabien will play this weekend.”

Santini claims to have been assured by Ferguson that Barthez will get an opportunity to impress in Wednesday night’s friendly at Stoke City.

“He should play tonight and that’s a good sign,” the French boss added.

There were no real surprises in France’s squad, with Santini set to use the friendly as a full-scale practice match for the upcoming Euro 2004 qualifying games against Cyprus and Slovenia, scheduled for September 6 and September 10.

Chelsea midfielder Emmanuel Petit, a regular usually, was not included due to fitness concerns following a recent hernia operation and a bout of blood poisoning, but he should return for the qualifiers.