Raphaël Varane

In the match, he acted as a roving third centre-back and made a blocked save in the 84th minute on a close range shot by Yoan Gouffran to preserve a 2–1 lead.

However, in the latter stages of the match, Bordeaux equalized to draw the match at 2–2.

Raphaël Xavier Varane (born 25 April 1993) is a French professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Premier League club Manchester United.

Regarded as one of the best defenders in the world as well as one of the best of his generation, Varane is known for his defensive prowess, leadership, aerial ability and speed.

After spending two years at the club, in July 2002, he joined professional club RC Lens, despite some interest from Derby du Nord rivals and hometown club Lille OSC.

Similar to the development of the club's previous prized assets such as Gaël Kakuta and Timothée Kolodziejczak, Varane spent time at the Centre de Préformation de Football in nearby Liévin, a training centre exclusively for players brought up in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region.

He spent two years at the centre training there during the weekdays and playing with Lens on the weekends.

After returning full-time to Lens, Varane quickly ascended up the club's youth ranks.

In the 2008–09 season, alongside teammates Thorgan Hazard and Geoffrey Kondogbia, he played on the club's under-16 team that won the Championnat National des 16 ans.

In the following season, Varane was promoted to the club's under-19 team, despite being two years younger than several of his teammates.

Varane previously played for French club Lens and, ahead of the 2010–11 season, began training with the senior team and appeared on the bench in several league matches.

Varane made his professional debut in 2010 aged 17, and after one season as a professional footballer, he joined Real Madrid.

Ahead of the 2010–11 season, Varane signed his first professional contract.

He was, subsequently, promoted to the club's reserve team in the Championnat de France amateur.

Varane made his amateur debut in the club's opening league match of the campaign in a 2–0 victory over Drancy.

He appeared as a starter in the club's next nine matches with the team losing only one of them.

In late October of the campaign, Varane was called up to the senior team by manager Jean-Guy Wallemme to train ahead of the club's match against Montpellier on 6 November.

He trained with the team for the entire week and, due to an injury to centre-back Alaeddine Yahia, Varane was, surprisingly, named to the starting line-up.

In the match, he played the full 90 minutes in a 2–0 victory.

The victory was only the club's third clean sheet of the season.

Varane was praised by teammates, most notably captain Adil Hermach, defensive partner Éric Chelle, and striker David Pollet, as well as by the local media and coach Wallemme.

In the next two matches, Varane, alongside several other youth players, sat on the bench as Lens faced two tough teams in Marseille and Lyon.

He returned to the starting line-up on 30 November in a 4–1 defeat to Brest.

Despite the firing of Wallemme following the Brest match, Varane remained a starter in the team under new manager László Bölöni.

In December, with both Chelle and Yahia returning to action, Varane was placed in the defensive midfielder role in the team's match against Bordeaux.

There, over the course of 10 seasons from 2011 to 2021, he won 18 trophies, including three La Liga titles, one Copa del Rey, four UEFA Champions League titles and four FIFA Club World Cups.

In 2021, he left Real Madrid to sign with Manchester United.

In early 2011, Varane was the subject of transfer speculation linking him to several clubs.

In an effort to quell the interest, on 3 February 2011, he signed a two-year contract extension with Lens until 2015.

On 8 May, Varane scored his first professional goal in a 1–1 draw with Caen.

In the team's following match against Monaco, he scored the equalizing goal in another 1–1 draw.

Despite the goal, the stalemate condemned Lens to relegation back to Ligue 2 after two seasons in the top division.

On 21 May, Varane captained Lens in its 1–0 defeat to Arles-Avignon.

Varane represented France at under-18, under-20 and under-21 level before making his full international debut in March 2013.

He was part of France's FIFA World Cup squad in 2014, when he was nominated for the Best Young Player award, in 2018, when he played every minute of every game as France went on to win the competition, and in 2022, when France finished as runners-up.

He additionally appeared at UEFA Euro 2020.

He announced his retirement from international football in 2023, having earned 93 caps and scored five goals.

Varane was born in the city of Lille in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region.

He is of Martiniquais heritage through his father, Gaston, who is originally from Le Morne-Rouge, while his mother, Annie, was raised in Saint-Amand-les-Eaux.

Varane began his football career in the Arrondissement of Lille playing for local club AS Hellemmes at the age of seven.