Abidal retires from international football

Eric Abidal has announced his retirement from international football after making 67 appearances for France. The defender, who left Ligue 1 side Monaco to join Greek champions Olympiakos last month, was left out of France's World Cup squad and has now brought his 10-year international career to an end at the age of 34. Abidal, who underwent a liver transplant in 2012 following the discovery of a tumour in 2011, featured in three major tournaments for his country and played in the 2006 World Cup final defeat against Italy. However, following his omission from Didier Deschamp's squad for the 2014 tournament, Abidal feels that time is up on his les Bleus career. "It is time to close this door," Abidal told Catalan radio station RAC1 . "Not going to the World Cup was a disappointment because I wanted to finish on a good note. "If I struggled as I did until today [after his liver transplant], it was to say goodbye to the national team at the World Cup. But that did not happen." His announcement comes just a day after Bayern Munich winger Franck Ribery confirmed the end of his international career, with midfielder Samir Nasri also deciding to bow out last Sunday. Abidal's last appearance for France came in the 2-0 first-leg defeat to Ukraine in a World Cup qualifying play-off last November.