France boss Didier Deschamps ruthlessly tore into his side during an interview at the half-time interval of the World Cup final after they were humbled by Argentina.
The defending world champions stumbled out of the blocks against Lionel Scaloni's side, who headed in at the break with a 2-0 lead at the Lusail Stadium. Lionel Messi broke the deadlock from the penalty spot and Angel Di Maria finished a slick team move to double Argentina's advantage just 13 minutes later.
France, who had been struck by a virus in the build-up to the final, looked completely hapless and devoid of energy as they limped to the interval. And Deschamps, who was giving a rare half-time interview, did not hold back with his assessment.
He told TF1, via Get French Football News : "We utterly failed to show up in the 1st half. We expected [their intensity], we neither had the correct attitude nor the correct response. It will take a lot to worry them & come back. They are really playing a World Cup final."
Deschamps' dismay was evident towards the end of the first-half, when he made a double substitution before the half-time interval. Olivier Giroud and Ousmane Dembele, who had both been pretty ineffective, were replaced by Randal Kolo Muani and Marcus Thuram.
While Giroud was visibly frustrated with the decision, Deschamps' bold call paid dividends later in the match as Les Bleus' fought back to take the game to extra-time.
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Muani and Thuram was instrumental in France's comeback: the former won the penalty that was clinically dispatched by Kylian Mbappe in the 80th minute before Thuram teed up Mbappe to lash home a second strike just 90 seconds later to restore parity for the defending champions.
After drawing level, momentum was with Deschamps' side as they went in search of a winning goal. However, neither side could find a winner and the match was forced into extra-time.
BBC pundit Alan Shearer defended Giroud's angry reaction to being hooked off, but the former England striker was adamant that Deschamps had made the right call during his half-time analysis.
"He's angry with his and his team’s performance," Shearer said of Giroud after the AC Milan striker was captured in a huff on the bench. "They [France] need energy. It's very difficult for him to press because he can't do that a lot of the time. [Kylian] Mbappe won't do that a lot of the time and that's been the problem. They've sat too far off and you give good players that amount of time, they'll control you and that’s exactly what’s happened."
