The French stars have been heavily criticised by the French press after their Euro 2024 semi-final defeat to Spain.
Didier Deschamps’ side lost 2-1 to La Roja on Tuesday night, after goals from Lamine Yamal and Dani Olmo left them stranded after Randal Kolo Muani had opened the scoring.
Despite reaching the last four, France’s elimination was the crowning glory of a disappointing tournament, with Les Bleus scoring just one goal from open play and producing some uninspiring performances.
And after their narrow defeat on Tuesday night, L’Equipe was one of many French media outlets to criticise Didier Deschamps’ team while giving some terrible reviews.
Their front page was equally critical, sharing a photo of Mbappé looking somber without his mask, with the caption “DEMASQUES,” meaning “unmasked.”
The French stars have been hit hard after their Euro 2024 semi-final defeat to Spain on Tuesday
Kylian Mbappe was given a 3/10 rating by L’Equipe after failing to impress again at Euro 2024
In addition to the brutal reviews, the front page of L’Equipe described France as ‘exposed’
Other French media, including Le Figaro, were also scathing in their analysis of the French
Meanwhile, Le Figaro wrote: ‘Mbappe (again) fails, Dembele too, Rabiot is a softie’, with the newspaper giving the Les Bleus captain a 2/10 rating.
Other media outlets also questioned whether the 2024 European Championship was a “failed competition for the French team”, while Le Monde claimed that Deschamps’ team had been “outclassed” by Spain, leading to a “bitter end to the European Championship”.
L’Humanité continued on the theme of the battle between France and Luis de la Fuente’s team, saying: ‘La Roja pushes Les Bleus aside in the semi-final’.
Le Parisien claimed that Les Blues ‘reached their glass ceiling’ against Spain, which ultimately led to their elimination.
Meanwhile, L’Equipe star Mbappe failed to impress again despite assisting Kolo Muani’s goal. The Real Madrid star was given a 3/10 rating, with the French outlet claiming he was ‘powerless too often and wasted good shots’.
It wasn’t much better for Mbappe’s attackers, with Ousmane Dembele also rated 3/10 after “too many inaccuracies”, while Kolo Muani was only given a 4/10 despite his goal and L’Equipe said he “never managed to exist” after they put France ahead.
The average score for France was 3.6/10, which was a poor indication of their performance and departure.
Mike Maignan and Dayot Upamecano both scored 4/10, while Jules Kounde scored 5/10 despite tipping Olmo’s decisive effort into his own net.
The French press also wondered whether Euro 2024 was a ‘failed competition’ for France
Le Monde said Deschamps’ team were “outclassed” by Spain, marking a “bitter end to the European Championship”
Meanwhile, Le Parisien claimed Les Blues had reached ‘their glass ceiling’ against Spain
L’Humanite continued with the theme of France struggling in their match against La Roja
Arsenal’s William Saliba was the only player to make a positive contribution for Les Bleus, with the defender scoring 6/10.
L’Equipe stressed that he was ‘the most reliable defender throughout the match’.
The worst situation, however, was for his defender Theo Hernandez, who was mocked with a 2/10 rating as he struggled to contain Spanish prodigy Yamal.
“A very complicated evening,” was the reasoning. “He (Hernandez) was not able to control the numerical inferiority situations related to the calls of Yamal, nor the one-on-one situations against that same Yamal.
‘He finally shook the young striker (35th) to no avail. His slowness was disarming then, as was his shot, with his right foot, alone in front of the goal but well above (76th).’
Elsewhere, the midfield trio of N’Golo Kante, Aurelien Tchouameni and Adrien Rabiot all scored 3/10 in a worrying critique of France’s weaknesses.
Rabiot was described as ‘not up to the Spanish technique’, later adding that his attempts to block Yamal before his goal ‘gave him the feeling of having his legs chopped off’.
L’Equipe said of Tchouameni’s performance: ‘The Spaniards gave him a nightmare between the lines.’
Kante didn’t fare much better, as the outlet added: ‘He played his first half in reverse and didn’t feel the attacking moves, which irritated Didier Deschamps. Add to that a defensive marking that was well below his usual level.’
Meanwhile, Deschamps scored just 3/10, once again casting doubt on his tactical acumen.
“His team has never shown any sign of rebellion,” the analysis said. “And his changes, apart perhaps from the arrival of Barcola, have not changed the team.”
‘The Blues went into the second half as if they had to hold on to a result, not get an equaliser. No one was able to bring about a change in the collective attitude.’
For Spain, on the other hand, things looked a lot rosier: all stars scored at least 5/10.
Didier Deschamps’ team was eliminated and the French national coach received an equally bad rating
French left back Theo Hernandez received the worst rating, scoring just 2/10
Adrien Rabiot was given a 3/10 and was described as ‘not resistant to Spanish technique’
One of his midfielders, N’Golo Kante, also struggled before being substituted after 62 minutes
L’Equipe’s full reviews gave a scathing assessment of some of France’s performances
Rodri and Olmo both received a 7/10, with L’Equipe very complimentary about both players.
Rodri was quoted as saying: ‘Another very neat performance from the brains of Roja, who was invaluable in reassuring everyone when his team were behind and who almost always made the right decisions in the game.
‘He picks up the balls and then distributes them with astonishing ease, and again he wastes the ball in a ridiculous way.’
L’Equipe added the following about Olmo: ‘The Blues had a very hard time containing him, but who can defend themselves against such poison?
‘He moves constantly and his controls stick to his feet. A technical delight, as in his goal (25th), where he connects an outside hook to take out Tchouameni and a cross shot with his right.’
But it was Yamal who stole the show, with the 16-year-old receiving a rare 8/10 from the hard-to-impress player.
He was described as ‘a phenomenon, plain and simple’, while his goal was described as ‘a lightning-quick strike, a wonderful curling shot from the left from 25 yards under the nose of Rabiot and unstoppable for Maignan’, adding that ‘Spain were behind and not exactly calm’ before his dramatic intervention.
Spanish midfielders Rodri (left) and Dani Olmo (right) both received a 7/10 rating
But it was 16-year-old wonderkid Lamine Yamal who stole the show with a rare 8/10 rating
Finally, unlike Deschamps, Spanish national coach Luis de la Fuente was also showered with praise.
L’Equipe explained in its analysis: ‘He had said that he did not want to deny himself, but that only the result counted, and that his team could pull back and get through the match without having to worry.
‘It exudes confidence and his management has a lot to do with that.’
While France head home, Spain will watch the semi-final between England and the Netherlands on Wednesday evening with bated breath as they await their opponents in the final on Sunday.