France faced their World Cup semi-final against Morocco without two key players - and reports suggest they believe England are to blame.
Adrien Rabiot and Dayot Upamecano were both ruled out of the semi-final in two enforced changes from the side that ended England's World Cup dream on Saturday. Youssouf Fofana and Liverpool's Ibrahima Konate were introduced as replacements to take on Morocco.
Rabiot and Upamecano both missed the game through illness having come down with flu in the days which followed the England win. Rabiot did not even travel to the Al Bayt Stadium for the game, instead being left at France's base camp whilst Upamecano was well enough to be on the bench.
According to beIN Sports, members of the France camp believe that the pair both contracted their illness from England players during their match. However, they have no way of confirming their theory.
Another theory, reported by L'Equipe, blamed air conditioning in Qatar for the illnesses suffered by the pair. There is also no requirement for Covid-19 testing at the tournament.
Morocco were boosted by captain Romain Saiss and centre back Nayef Aguerd being deemed fit enough to start in Wednesday's semi-final after being forced off earlier in the tournament. Coach Walid Regragui praised their staff for getting them in contention ahead of the game.
“We have good doctors and every day we get good news. No one is ruled out and no one is for certain,” Regragui said. "We’ll use the best team possible.”
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Rabiot's absence was particularly notable for France given his key role this tournament. The Juventus ace has started all-but one game in Qatar and has played an influential role in the heart of their midfield.
However, he angered England fans after their quarter-final win by claiming Harry Kane's costly penalty miss was "justice" after disagreeing with the decision to award the spot kick.
"First of all, I'm not sure that it's really a foul. We've seen hundreds of actions like that that aren't given," Rabiot declared post-match.
"I thought the refereeing was a bit borderline at times tonight, but we won't linger on that. Of course, when he missed, we were happy, it was justice because there was no penalty.
“But sometimes you also need that bit of luck, of success. We had it tonight, everything came together. We are really proud to reach the semi-final in this way."
