France coach Didier Deschamps analyzes the elimination in the European Championship semi-final against Spain succinctly: "We didn't have enough juice and freshness."
10.07.2024, 09:07
10.07.2024, 09:25
SDA
The hurdle was too high, "even if we were lucky enough to open the scoring", said the coach. Deschamps did not want to blame the 2-1 defeat on the poor performance of Kylian Mbappé or Antoine Griezmann, who has been underperforming at the European Championships. "I'm not going to put the blame on either of them," said the national team coach. "Kylian may have had some problems. But we're not looking for excuses."
Without a protective mask
Mbappé played for the first time without a protective mask, which he had been forced to wear for the rest of the tournament after breaking his nose in France's opening match against Austria. The captain appeared much more liberated without this prop, but he was unable to prevent the loss to the three-time European champions - especially as he missed a good chance to level the score at 2-2. "I had the ambition to become European champion. I had the ambition to play a good European Championship. I achieved neither," said the 25-year-old self-critically after his final performance in Munich. "It's a disappointment," summed up the world-class striker, who is leaving Paris Saint-Germain for Real Madrid.
Griezmann said: "We lacked defensive strength and quick legs. We lost to a great team from Spain. They were better in everything. We didn't manage to get back into the game".
The dominance of the Spaniards was also recognized by the French media. "Le Figaro wrote: "La Roja dominated the French national team, carried by a historic Lamine Yamal". And "RMC Sport" added: "Although France took the lead, Les Bleus collapsed in the first half and were unable to fight their way back after the break." And "Le Parisien" wrote: "That was it. Les Bleus had taken the lead against the best attack of the European Championship, but conceded two goals within four minutes."
Lack of forward momentum
"The Spanish team is very confident in the game," Deschamps said at the press conference. "I'm not going to look for excuses. We were less successful in the direction of the game. We lacked forward movement, even though we pushed until the end. We didn't manage the game well going forward."
Asked about the criticism of Les Bleus' unspectacular style of play and their lack of attacking efficiency, Deschamps replied that he had "never denied" this situation, but that his team had "not played to 100 percent of their potential". "We made an effort to be competitive, but inevitably with limits. We had to deal with a lot of players who were in complicated situations."
