Lizarazu Mixed on France's Friendly Defeat to Ivory Coast

France fell 1-2 to Ivory Coast in Nantes on Thursday evening, conceding their first warm-up defeat under Didier Deschamps, just twelve days before the Blues’ opening match at the 2026 World Cup.

For Bixente Lizarazu, the evening’s verdict was mixed. The 1998 World Cup winner praised a solid first half, notably citing Rayan Cherki as the match’s standout player. “Kylian Mbappé, I thought he was sharp. I was interested to see how the Cherki-Olise duo would split the roles, their movements, and I thought it was pretty good,” he said after the match.

The second half, however, left the former Bayern Munich left-back far less convinced. He partly attributes this to the ten substitutions made by the French coaching staff. “That maybe threw the team off a bit. We were completely lifeless, there was no verticality, barely any chances. And that gave confidence to this Ivorian team who ultimately managed to win.”

Despite the setback, Lizarazu refuses to sound the alarm. “A defeat in preparation just before a World Cup is never good, but we’re not going to hit the panic button either. We had a great tour in the United States against Colombia and Brazil.” The Blues will have a chance to bounce back in their final friendly against Northern Ireland on June 8 at 21:10.