L'Equipe hands three players a rating of two as French media savage World Cup semi-final exit

France’s World Cup campaign ended in a 2-0 semi-final defeat to Spain, and the national press wasted no time in delivering a verdict as brutal as the scoreline. Mikel Oyarzabal converted from the spot before Pedro Porro doubled Spain’s advantage, leaving Les Bleus — widely considered among the pre-tournament favourites — without a goal and without a route to the final.

L’Equipe led the condemnation, awarding two-out-of-ten ratings to three players: Bayern Munich winger Michael Olise, Aston Villa left-back Lucas Digne, and Paris Saint-Germain forward Ousmane Dembele. The paper described Dembele as “a huge disappointment”, writing that he “did almost everything wrong” and “gradually faded until he became almost invisible”. Digne was criticised for the foul on Lamine Yamal that gifted Spain their penalty, with the paper noting “he made two mistakes that resulted in a penalty”. Olise, who had impressed throughout the tournament, was told he had “fallen very low” after rising so high in earlier rounds.

Captain Kylian Mbappe fared only marginally better, earning a three. L’Equipe noted that he “often seemed very isolated and tried to do everything himself, without success.” The French press plastered images of a dejected Mbappe across their front pages: L’Equipe ran the headline “Fleeting star”, Le Parisien went with “Fallen from a height”, and Le Figaro declared that “Spain put an end to Les Bleus’ dream”.

Mbappe himself offered little defence of the performance in his post-match comments. “There were too many technical errors,” he said. “We didn’t know how to hurt them when we needed to. It was up to us to shift the balance of power, and that’s where we failed.”

Spain, who are European champions under Luis de la Fuente, now advance to Sunday’s final, where they will face the winner of the other semi-final between England and Argentina.