Cherki slams France after defeat: "We beat ourselves"

Rayan Cherki did not mince words after France’s defeat to Spain. Introduced only in the final quarter-hour, the Manchester City midfielder expressed visible frustration from the first questions posed by journalists in the mixed zone.

When a reporter asked if he would have liked to come on earlier, the response was cutting: “What do you think?”, he said, eyes wide, before leaving the area. The contrast with his first appearance in the France shirt is striking: a year ago, against this same Spain, Cherki had turned the tide of the match by scoring a goal and providing an assist after coming on in the 63rd minute.

Asked about Lucas Digne, who was at fault for the Spanish penalty in the first half, Cherki refused to blame his teammate. “Do you think I’m going to tell you what? That he was crying? That we got in his head? No, these are facts of the game, it’s football. We have to take him with us. He has to be with us. At half-time we were all together.”

On the substance, the number 24 in the France shirt delivered an unsparing assessment of the match. “They were better than us in every aspect of the game and wanted it more than us, I think. It’s unfortunate, because I’m convinced we remain a better team than them, but this afternoon, Spain was better than us. Even on a less good day, we have to be a bit better, tactically, technically, in desire. Everywhere.”

For Cherki, responsibility for this underperformance lies above all with the players themselves. “The only team that beat us is ourselves. Not by the refereeing, not by Spain, we were beaten technically, tactically. We didn’t play the way we know how to play football.” He clarified his thinking by dismissing the argument of Spain’s pressing: “They weren’t putting on crazy pressure with all-out pressing. We sometimes had time to play, to build something. I think we mismanaged our emotions.”