Kylian Mbappe says that France is “pissed off” after they have just missed a place in the Nations League final.
France was beaten 5-4 on Thursday by Spain in an exciting semi-final in Stuttgart, although it was 5-1 pursuit before a late fightback was mounted.
A Lamine Yamal – Double – Together with goals from Nico Williams, Mikel Merino and Pedri – Spain had submitted control, but Mbappe's penalty was then added by Rayan Cherki, a Dani Vivian own goal and Randal Kolo Muani's Late Header.
Despite their late pressure, France could not force an extra time, which means that they have to settle for a third place play-off against Germany on Sunday.
It is the first time that Les Bleus has admitted five goals in one match since March 1969 (5-0 loss for England).
But Mbappe did not believe that an “experimental” defense was the fault of the result, instead, frustrations were broadcast with the referee.
“In the heat of the moment I would say we played well,” Mbappe told TF1. “We had a number of pieces that we hadn't had for a while.
“We had a 10 -minute gap in the first half and we gave two goals, and the same in the second half. We were not consistent during the 90 minutes, but we got better.
“It is not an excuse, we are players at the top level. But it is not all negative. We are P *****, that's for sure. We are frustrated.
“I didn't even agree with the referee about the actual playing time, but when I talk about it, people will think I'm angry. If there are five minutes [stoppage time]You have to play five minutes. “
Only twice under Didier Deschamps have admitted France twice in the first half hour of competitions, with Spain responsible for both occasions, also in their semi -final of the Euro 2024.
The side of Deschamps ended the game with 2.8 expected goals (XG) of their 24 shots, with nine of those on goal. Spain, on the other hand, created a 2.9 xg of 16 attempts, giving only eight shots on goal.
“It is a mixture of feelings. At the end of the first half it is hard to be 2-0 because we had many opportunities,” Deschamps told TF1.
“We had fallen 5-1, but we did not 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 admit five goals, it is because we can do it defensively, but it is frustrating. As soon as they have a chance, they are often very effective.
“The quality of the opposition leads to mistakes, but if there are goals, we can always do it better. I am not only going to blame the defenders because they were one-on-one.
“I don't want to condemn [Ibrahima] King, [Clement] Lenglet or [Pierre] Kalulu, but if you have three players who have played every game in recent years, even in terms of automatisms, it doesn't happen with the button of a finger.
“They had everyone, and we were superior to them in the game. It is a very high level and, given the youth of the team, it will be of good service to us.”
In the meantime, Clement Lenglet believes that it is falling into concentration that France cost.
“A bit of a crazy game,” he said RTVE. “If you look at the entire game, we played reasonably well.
“We lacked in some parts of the field.