French newspapers offered a harsh verdict on Wednesday after France were beaten 2-0 by Spain in the World Cup semi-final.
Didier Deschamps’ side entered the match in Dallas as tournament favourites, but they produced a disappointing performance against the European champions. Mikel Oyarzabal opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the first half before Pedro Porro added Spain’s second goal after the break.
France’s highly rated attacking line failed to make the expected impact, leaving the national media frustrated by the manner of the defeat.
L’Equipe gives France’s biggest stars severe ratings
L’Equipe placed a dejected Kylian Mbappe on its front page under the headline “fallen star”. The newspaper described France as powerless against a Spanish team that controlled the contest.
Its player ratings were equally unforgiving. No French player received more than five out of ten.
Lucas Digne was awarded two out of ten after conceding the penalty that allowed Spain to take the lead. Ousmane Dembele and Michael Olise received the same mark following ineffective attacking displays.
Mbappe was rated three out of ten after struggling to influence the semi-final. Deschamps also received three out of ten as he prepares to lead France for the final time in Saturday’s third-place play-off.
Le Parisien described the loss as a “rude awakening” and claimed France never discovered a way to break through Spain’s organised defence.
Corse Martin used the Spanish word for “disappointment” on its front page and wrote that Deschamps’ team had been clearly outplayed.
Le Figaro said Spain had given France a football lesson, while Ouest France called the defeat the end of the country’s American dream.
Almost every major French newspaper selected an image of a visibly disappointed Mbappe for its front page.
Cherki says France defeated themselves
France midfielder Rayan Cherki admitted the result was extremely difficult to accept and argued that the team had caused its own downfall.
“It is a huge disappointment because today we lost to ourselves,” Cherki said. “We did not lose because of the referee and we did not lose because of Spain. We lost because of our own performance.”
Cherki believed France had enough quality to win the tournament and claimed that only the team itself was capable of ending its campaign.
“Everyone knew we were a serious force,” he added. “The only team capable of eliminating us was ourselves, and that is exactly what happened.”
Deschamps admits France fell below their level
Deschamps acknowledged Spain’s quality but accepted that France had not performed close to their best.
“Spain are a strong team and they showed their ability,” he said. “We were below our normal standard and made more technical mistakes than in previous matches.”
The France coach explained that he expected his players to recover during the game, but the response never arrived.
He also pointed to squad issues that affected his decisions. William Saliba suffered an injury, while Adrien Rabiot was at risk because he had already been booked.
Deschamps said France needed to produce their maximum level to have any chance of defeating Spain.
“We knew the quality of the Spanish team,” he added. “To win, we had to give everything and perform at our highest level. Unfortunately, we did not do that.”
The coach admitted the squad was deeply disappointed by the elimination. He also suggested that several decisions during the opening part of the match could be questioned, although he accepted that France’s own performance was the main reason for the defeat.
