France in Qatar should not be compared with 2018 winners: Varane

French defender Raphaël Varane warned against comparing his team's performance in Qatar with their run to victory in the 2018 World Cup.

France, the first defending champions to reach the last-16 since Brazil in 2006, play Tunisia in their last Group D match on Wednesday and are expected to use their bench players to rest star front-liners ahead of the knockout stage.

France became the first team in the 32-nation tournament to reach the last-16 by beating Denmark 2-1 on Saturday thanks to two second-half goals by the electric Kylian Mbappé.

Varane, who recovered from injury in time to play in his third World Cup, said the mix of veterans and young players in the squad had succeeded in adapting to changing circumstances but were wary of drawing parallels with the 2018 team.

“I think we have to avoid making too many comparisons,” Varane said.

“This is another time. The difficulty of a World Cup is that the players are different, they are in different shape. Four years in soccer is an eternity.”

Varane said constant factors on the French team were their humility, serious work ethic and raw talent.

“We have to continue working with the same values that have contributed to our success in recent years.”

Tunisia, who drew against Denmark and lost to Australia, should be regarded as serious opponents, Varane said.

“We have seen that it is a team capable of hurting us on the counterattack in space, who presses with lots of energy. The Tunisians will fight for a victory and it will be up to us to counter them.”

France will look to strike the right balance between resting players and keeping their momentum going.

Should they finish first, they will face the team who end up second in Group C, which features Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Poland and Mexico.

Mbappe might be expected to be held back in reserve but the forward is chasing records in Qatar and Coach Didier Deschamps could give him some playing time to help him add to his seven World Cup goals, three scored in Qatar.

Steve Mandanda is likely to start between the posts and Deschamps might also want to give Jules Kounde some time to adjust to the right-back position after he replaced the disappointing Benjamin Pavard for the Denmark game.

Deschamps' biggest decision will be whether Varane plays or not. The centreback returned from a hamstring injury for the second game and was substituted in the second half.

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