Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate has broken his silence on France’s World Cup final defeat to Argentina.
France were hoping to become the first team to defend the World Cup since 1962. However, their hopes of retaining the famous trophy were ruined by Lionel Messi and his Argentina side on Sunday evening.
Argentina eventually beat France 4-2 on penalties after a pulsating 3-3 draw at the Lusail Stadium in Lusail. The epic game will go down in history as one of the greatest World Cup finals ever.
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Despite being on the losing side, Kylian Mbappe was a standout performer as he became the first player to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final since Sir Geoff Hurst in 1996 for England.
But a brace from Messi, in between an Angel Di Maria strike, ensured spot-kicks would decide the destination of the trophy. And while Argentina's takers did their job by calmly converting all four of their penalties, Kingsley Coman and Aurelien Tchouameni failed to convert from 12 yards.
And taking to Twitter on Monday afternoon, Konate wrote: “Every great success has been preceded by several great failures.”
Speaking after the match, France boss Didier Deschamps suggested his side had felt the 'physical or psychological impact' of an illness-affected run-up to the game.
He said: “The whole squad has been facing a tricky situation for a while now. Maybe that had a physical or psychological impact.
“But I had no concerns about the players who started the match: they were 100% fit. We only had four days since the last match so there was some tiredness, perhaps.
“That’s not an excuse, we just didn’t have the same energy as in the previous match and that’s why, for the first hour or so, we weren’t in the match.”
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