Senegal stars Kalidou Koulibaly and Edouard Mendy hailed England as one of the best teams in the world as their country bowed out of the World Cup.
England were dominant in a 3-0 win at Al Bayt Stadium as Jordan Henderson, Harry Kane and Bukayo Saka got the goals that saw the Three Lions through to a blockbuster quarter-final clash with world champions France.
Tournament top scorer Kylian Mbappe guided his country into the last eight with two stunning goals against Poland, an ominous display from a man Gareth Southgate & Co. will be working hard this week on nullifying during Saturday’s showdown.
Chelsea defender Koulibaly, though, believes it is France who have plenty to be concerned about ahead of facing the Three Lions.
He said: “It was a tough game against one of the best teams in the world. We can be proud of what we did but we need to keep working to reach this level.
“They are a very good team. We know they have a lot of talents and have very big players. They have so many options. They have to keep on believing. We saw that they played a very good game.
“They scored when they were in a good mood and they can go far but the next game will be tough against France, so may the best team win.”
Senegal were without star forward Sadio Mane, who was ruled out of the tournament with an injury picked up in his final game with Bayern Munich before the mid-season break, and Everton’s Idrissa Gana Gueye who was suspended.
Those absentees were too much to take, according to goalkeeper Mendy, who admitted Senegal were outplayed.
Mendy added: “We have to accept that the other team was better than us. They played at a top level.
“All their good players were there and we didn't have Mane and Gueye. We miss key players and against a team like England, it was so difficult to play without them.
“But we still showed Senegal are a group. We keep going and progress for the next world Cup. We will back more powerful.”
