Ousmane Dembele was torn to shreds by pundits following his World Cup final nightmare.
The Barcelona star fully flopped as Argentina ran away from his France side in the first half, prompting manager Didier Deschamps to hook him in the 41st minute in place of Randal Kolo Muani. While fellow forward Olivier Giroud also made way for Marcus Thuram due to injury, Dembele had been at fault for Argentina's first goal, as the 25-year-old winger clipped Angel Di Maria in the penalty area.
Lionel Messi stepped up to make it 1-0 and bring on a tidal wave of criticism for Dembele. Gary Neville was chief among it, declaring on ITV: "It's pathetic. Di Maria's position, well done to the manager, it's a genius selection, it's stretched that French team.
"[Alexis] Mac Allister has been in that pocket, they’ve not been able to cope with it, Messi has come to the right hand side. The penalty, I have to say, Dembele although he’s a wide player, what he does, this initial challenge… you know what Di Maria's going to do; he's been doing it for 10 years.
"It's embarrassing. I'm torn between one, I think it's a soft penalty but also stupidity and to get on the wrong side, you deserve to be found out. Dembele gets found out, he’s looking for it, he knows what he's doing but Dembele gets played like a little boy."
Although Roy Keane admitted the French wide man was unlucky to concede a penalty, he still slammed him. "I think it's very soft," Keane declared. "I don't think it's a penalty but sometimes the defender has to be punished for being so silly." Also on ITV, Ian Wright followed up by saying: "I think that is a penalty because of the clumsiness, the challenge is pathetic."
Have your say! Was Dembele's display the worst ever in a World Cup final? Let us know verdict in the comments section.
Meanwhile, Michael Owen tweeted that Dembele had been "idiotic" for his challenge, adding: "Dembele has given it away virtually every time he's touched it. Argentina playing very well here."
On commentary for the BBC, Jermaine Jenas backed Deschamps' call to bring Dembele off alongside Giroud. "I don't blame Didier Deschamps at all. He is looking at the same thing we are looking it," Jenas went on to say.
"They are obviously struggling with something as a group and were carrying one too many players in my opinion. It's a tough call because Giroud had given him so much in the tournament but he has had to make the call before half-time. It means [Kylian] Mbappe will go through the middle.
"They won't believe what they have been facing. Argentina have been brilliant but there is no way they would have expected this lack of intensity from France. They will be in shock on the pitch at the amount of freedom they have."
