Exclusive: Ibrahima Konate admits ‘trouble sleeping’ after 2022 World Cup and Champions League final heartbreaks

Liverpool and France defender Ibrahima Konate has admitted he “had trouble sleeping” after two devastating final defeats in 2022. However, he has backed himself to make up for it in the future.

“Honestly, after those two matches, I had trouble sleeping the days after,” Konate revealed ahead of his country’s Euro 2024 qualifier against Netherlands. “It hurts when I think about it.

“But I tell myself today that I will do everything I can to win them one day.

“When I have won them, the story will be very nice to tell at the end, whether it’s to you, the journalists, or to my future children.

“I will tell them that, ‘yes, I lost two important matches but I managed to win them afterward’. The story will be even better.”

Konate started for Liverpool at the Stade de France as Vinicius Jr settled things in favour of the Spanish giants in a cagey affair last June.

The match against Argentina in Lusail in December was an entirely different beast as France battled from 2-0 down to force extra time and again to send the match to penalties when they finally came a cropper.

However, the then-defending champions spurned a golden opportunity to win the game just moments before the final whistle.

France forward Randal Kolo Muani – latching on to Konate’s pass, no less – found himself one-on-one with goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, but the Argentine stopper was able to pull off a remarkable point-blank save with his left leg.

“The Champions League is fine, you can digest it,” reflected the defender. “But the World Cup, that’s not acceptable. In real life, it doesn’t work.

“When I see it [Kolo Muani’s chance] again on TV, my heart palpitates as if I were in the middle of a match and he still had the chance to score.

“It’s hard, it’s hard.”

He added: “I’m lucky in that I have no regrets. When I replay the scenario of the match against Real Madrid, I say to myself, ‘What could I have done more?’ Well, nothing at all.

“The World Cup final, I have a few precious minutes and I also say to myself: ‘What more could I have done?’ And I don’t see. I have no regrets. I have regrets for the team but no personal regrets.”