Kylian Mbappe has been slammed by France's press following their tame exit from Euro 2024 on Tuesday night.
And L'Equipe, whose front page headline simply said "Unmasked" in reference to star man Mbappe playing without the protection for his broken nose, gave the new Real Madrid star a rating of just three out of 10.
The other papers were no less severe in their criticism of the team. The headline in Le Figaro screamed: “Mbappe (again) fails, Dembele too, Rabiot all soft,” while the paper handed the captain a rating of two. And Le Parisien claimed France had “reached their glass ceiling” against Spain.
L'Equipe complained that Mbappe was “too often powerless, wasted good shots” but few of his team-mates were spared following the 2-1 defeat in Munich.
Ousmane Dembele received the same mark for a performance that featured “too many imprecisions”, while goalscorer Randal Kolo Muani was given a four because “he never managed to exist” after putting France ahead.
Yet the lowest mark was reserved for full-back Theo Hernandez after he was turned inside out by Yamine Lamal. “A very complicated evening,” L’Equipe said, giving him a mark of just two. “His inertia was disarming.”
But Arsenal's William Saliba was the only France player to escape a hammering by scoring a six with L’Equipe saying that “over the duration of the duration of the match [he was] the most reliable defender.”
Long-serving head coach Didier Deschamps, whose future is being called into doubt, was given three out of ten and L’Equipe’s rating said: “His team never showed any signs of retaliating. And his changes, apart perhaps from the entry of Barcola, did not transform the game.
“Les Bleus went through the second half as if they had a result to preserve, not an equaliser to snatch. No one was able to bring about a change in collective attitude.”
The French critics were far kinder to Spain's stars - not least Yamal who was given an eight and described "quite simply, a phenomenon." His equalising goal was described as a "a lightning quick, marvel of a curling shot from under the nose of [Adrien] Rabiot and unstoppable for [Mike] Maignan."
Midfielder Rodri was handed a seven after "annother very clean performance for the brain of the Roja, who was invaluable in reassuring everyone when his team was behind and who almost always made the right choices in the game."
Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
