the critical set-piece which allowed the German defender to head the winning goal. In spite of this, Varane was named on the three-man shortlist for the tournament's Best Young Player award. On 14 October, Varane became the youngest player to captain France when he took over from Blaise Matuidi at half time in a 3–0 win over Armenia. He was then selected as the team's starting captain for a home friendly against Sweden on 18 November, where he scored his first international goal to give Les Bleus a 1–0 win. On 24 May 2016, he was ruled out of UEFA Euro 2016 with a thigh injury, and was replaced by Adil Rami. On 17 May 2018, Varane was called up to France's 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. He would go on to start in all seven of France's games and play every minute. In the quarter-final against Uruguay, Varane he scored the opening goal with a header in France's 2–0 victory. France later went on to win the competition for the second time in history, and Varane became only the fourth player to be a World Cup champion and Champions League winner in the same year, after Christian Karembeu (in 1998), Roberto Carlos (in 2002), and Sami Khedira (in 2014). All the players, like Varane, were playing for Real Madrid at the time they won the World Cup. In May 2021, he was included in the squad for the UEFA Euro 2020. He played in every minute of France's four matches at the tournament, including the period of extra time at the end of their round of 16 match against Switzerland; that match went to penalties, but Varane was not selected to take one of the first five kicks as France lost 5–4. On 2 February 2023, Varane announced his retirement from international football via his Instagram account. The defender shared a series of photos from his international career alongside the announcement. The announcement marked the end of his 10 year run with the national team where he made 93 appearances and scored 5 goals. Style of play Varane has been described by Lens youth coach Éric Assadourian as a "truly first-class player" who is "comfortable on both the tactical and technical level". On 30 January 2013, the then Real Madrid assistant coach Aitor Karanka talked about Varane in the press conference post-El Clásico of the Copa