Kylian Mbappe says France are “p***** off” after they narrowly missed out on a place in the Nations League final.
France were beaten 5-4 by Spain in a thrilling semi-final in Stuttgart on Thursday, though had trailed 5-1 before mounting a late fightback.
A Lamine Yamal double – along with goals from Nico Williams, Mikel Merino, and Pedri – had put Spain in control, but Mbappe’s penalty was then added to by Rayan Cherki, a Dani Vivian own-goal and Randal Kolo Muani’s late header.
Despite their late pressure, France could not force extra-time, meaning they will have to settle for a third-place play-off against Germany on Sunday.
It is the first time Les Bleus have conceded five goals in a single game since March 1969 (5-0 loss to England).
But Mbappe did not believe an “experimental” defence was to blame for the result, instead airing his frustrations with the referee.
“In the heat of the moment, I’d say we played well,” Mbappe told TF1. “We had some stretches of play we haven’t had for a while.
“We had a 10-minute gap in the first half, and we conceded two goals, and the same thing in the second half. We weren’t consistent over the 90 minutes, but we did get better.
“It’s no excuse, we’re top-level players. But it’s not all negative. We’re p***** off, that’s for sure. We’re frustrated.
“I didn’t agree with the referee about the actual playing time, but if I talk about it, people will think I’m angry. When there are five minutes [stoppage time], you have to play for five minutes.”
Only twice under Didier Deschamps have France conceded twice in the opening half an hour of games, with Spain responsible for both occasions, also doing so in their Euro 2024 semi-final.
Deschamps’ side finished the game with 2.8 expected goals (xG) from their 24 shots, with nine of those on target. Spain, by contrast, created a 2.9 xG from 16 attempts, only getting eight shots on target.
“It’s a mixture of feelings. At the end of the first half, it’s harsh to be down 2-0 because we had a lot of chances,” Deschamps told TF1.
“We were down 5-1, but we didn’t give up. We can’t throw everything away; we did a lot of good things. We had better control than this Spanish team.
“If we concede five goals, it’s because we can do better defensively, but it’s frustrating. As soon as they have a chance, they are often very effective.
“The quality of the opposition leads to mistakes, but when there are goals, we can always do better. I’m not going to blame just the defenders because they found themselves one-on-one.
“I don’t want to condemn [Ibrahima] Konate, [Clement] Lenglet or [Pierre] Kalulu, but when you have three players who have played every game in recent years, even just in terms of automatisms, it doesn’t happen with the snap of a finger.
“They had everyone, and we were superior to them in the game. It’s a very high level and, given the youth of the squad, it will serve us well.”
Clement Lenglet, meanwhile, believes it was lapses in concentration that cost France.
“A bit of a crazy game,” he told RTVE. “If you look at the whole game, we played pretty well.
“We lacked accuracy in some areas of the field. We lacked concentration in the stretches when they scored against us.”
