France’s World Cup stars were not spared by L’Equipe after their World Cup campaign came to an underwhelming end with a 2-0 defeat by Spain in the semi-finals.
Didier Deschamps’ side had headed into the tournament as favourites to win the World Cup, with the view having only grown with free-flowing attacking performances through to the semi-finals.
France, however, came unstuck with a Mikel Oyarzabal penalty and Pedro Porro strike preventing them from reaching a third successive World Cup final.
Spain succeeded in keeping France’s stellar attack, which had scored 16 goals at the tournament, at arm’s length throughout the match in Dallas.
French newspaper L’Equipe were damning in their assessment of the performance as Deschamps’ side were beaten in the semi-finals of a third straight tournament by Spain.
Lucas Digne was particularly highlighted by L’Equipe, with the Aston Villa full back having clumsily given away the penalty after kicking Lamine Yamal as he went to clear the ball, unaware that the Spain star was closing him down.
Kylian Mbappe was given a 3/10 rating by L’Equipe after France lost 2-0 to Spain in the World Cup semi-finals
Lucas Digne was given a 2/10 rating after giving away the penalty that led to Spain’s opening goal
Ousame Dembele was also marked at 2/10 after he did ‘almost everything wrong’
‘Between his uncontrolled header and his foul on Lamine Yamal, he made two mistakes that resulted in a penalty,’ L’Equipe wrote, while giving Digne a 2/10 rating.
‘He seemed to have got back into the game before the break but his second half was marked by repeated losses of the ball and his replacement by Theo Hernandez.’
Digne was one of three players in the French team to be given a 2/10 mark, with two of their brightest stars Michael Olise and reigning Ballon d’Or Ousmane Dembele also critiqued.
‘Initially on the right, then moved centrally after half an hour, nothing helped: the Ballon d’Or winner did almost everything wrong,’ L’Equipe summarised Dembele’s display.
‘As the minutes ticked by, he gradually faded until he became almost invisible. A huge disappointment.’
The newspaper stated that after Olise had ‘risen so high in previous matches, he fell very low this time.
Olise’s lack of precision with several failed passes and dribbles had meant he was unable to do harm to the Spanish defence.
Captain Kylian Mbappe received a 3/10 rating for his performance, with the outlet noting that he ‘often seemed very isolated’ and there ‘tried to do everything himself, without success’.
Didier Deschamps received a 3/10 score after his France side came up short against Spain
Dani Olmo received an 8/10 rating with the Spain star deemed to be the player of the match
No French player received a rating above the 5/10, which was given to Jules Kounde, Dayot Upamecano and Adrien Rabiot.
Rabiot was noted as having shown ‘personality and a huge impact off the ball’, despite the midfielder having to be substituted at half-time due to being booked in the first half.
The defeat meant Didier Deschamps’ long reign as France head coach will come to an end in the third place play-off.
Deschamps, who led France to World Cup glory in 2018 and the final in 2022, was given a 3/10 rating for his management of the semi-final.
‘It’s hard to understand how his team could have missed the mark so completely in terms of their approach, arriving with so much confidence,’ L’Equipe stated.
‘The decision to replace [Desire] Doue with [Bradley] Barcola didn’t pay off, and the coaching was too deferential to the established order.’
By contrast, L’Equipe highlighted several Spanish players and their head coach Luis de la Fuente for praise.
Porro and Dani Olmo were the top scoring players with 8/10 ratings, with the latter named as their player of the match.
The mark also given to De la Fuente, with the newspaper stating his team ‘displayed complete control of the match’ and ‘never looked threatened’.
