France coach Didier Deschamps questioned the officiating following France’s 2-0 World Cup semi-final defeat to Spain on Tuesday.
While he admitted that his team was technically inferior and outplayed, Deschamps berated referee Iván Barton, asking reporters, “Is the referee at the level required to officiate a World Cup semi-final?”.
Deschamps’ frustrations stemmed from a few key officiating decisions during the match in Arlington, Texas.
He was particularly upset about an early first-half penalty awarded to Spain, which occurred when left-back Lucas Digne made contact with Lamine Yamal.
Also, Deschamps was frustrated by several other decisions, including a reckless foul by Yamal that went without a yellow card.
He indicated that there were “quite a few situations” and unfavorable calls that impacted the match, though he chose not to elaborate to avoid sounding like a sore loser.
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“I’ll ask a loaded question and I won’t answer it,” Deschamps said. “Is the referee at the level required to officiate a World Cup semi-final?
“And I’m not saying this just because we lost today. There were quite a few situations. There were some favourable calls, too,”
Despite pointing fingers at the officiating, Deschamps frankly acknowledged that Spain controlled the game well and that France was “a notch below on the technical level”.
“The players are devastated because we had a lot of ambition, even though we also have to be realistic and acknowledge that today we were a notch below on the technical level against a team that controlled the game well.
“But first of all, it’s our fault, I don’t want to blame anyone.”
