Lyon midfielder Houssem Aouar made his first senior start for France on Wednesday in a friendly match against Ukraine.

Ahead of the match, Algeria coach Djamel Belmadi addressed his attempts to lure the 22-year-old to the Fennecs.

Aouar has represented France at bother the U-17 and U-21 levels.

“On the Aouar situation I was clear, I explained things, we did the work. The people do not understand that we did everything, but I do not want to get into the details… I entered into contact with Aouar pretty much the day that I started this job, but it turned out that he has always dreamed of playing for France.

Aouar made up his mind a long time ago, but I am not going to shout from the roofs about it, because players have families, we do not want to put them in difficulty. Young players like Aouar love social media, what people are saying about them. I know that he will see what I say about him. I therefore worked in silence on this matter.”