Dembélé clashes with Mbappé, Olise and Barcola at half-time against Spain

France was eliminated from the 2026 World Cup by Spain (0-2) on Tuesday night in the semi-final, and internal tensions erupted at half-time. According to L’Équipe, Ousmane Dembélé spoke up in the dressing room to criticize the lack of coordination in pressing among the French attackers, feeling he was not sufficiently supported by his teammates.

The PSG forward’s intervention did not have the desired effect. Quite the opposite: still according to L’Équipe, it frustrated some of his teammates, who had the impression that Dembélé was getting angry precisely in moments when he himself was struggling, and not in other circumstances. The second half changed nothing about the nature of a match in which the Blues appeared apathetic and clumsy from start to finish, despite Didier Deschamps’ interventions at half-time and during the two cooling breaks.

Kylian Mbappé confirmed after the final whistle that pressing had been the central problem of the evening. “We let them dictate the tempo,” the captain lamented. “At the start, in the pressure, in the way we went after them, we found ourselves three against two in midfield. In the end, Fabian Ruiz and Rodri had plenty of time to play. There was a lack of communication on the pressing.” A diagnosis shared, then, but apparently formulated too late and in a climate that only heightened divisions within the France group.