French daily L’Equipe are renowned for their occasionally brutal player ratings and they gave a particularly damning assessment of Les Bleus after their 6-4 defeat to England in the World Cup third-place play-off.
France were 4-0 down at the break as L’Equipe branded their first-half performance as an act of “absolute self-sabotage” and “unfathomable”.
The Three Lions had opened up a huge lead thanks to goals from Declan Rice, Ezri Konsa and a double from Bukayo Saka, but France did fight back after the restart as the two sides played out an incredible battle for third place.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the French starters came in for most of the criticism as the entire defence were awarded 2/10 ratings with the exception of Maxence Lacroix, who escaped with a 3.
Goalkeeper Mike Maignan was also given a 3/10 but offensive pair Rayan Cherki and Desire Doue, among a quartet of Frenchmen who were substituted at half-time, also picked up 2/10 ratings.
Kylian Mbappe redeemed himself in L’Equipe’s eyes after a lowly 3/10 performance against Spain in the semi-finals. The Real Madrid man had two goals and an assist after the restart as Les Bleus staged an unsuccessful comeback and was ultimately rated as France’s best starter with 7/10.
Mbappe is now the frontrunner for the Golden Boot award and the all-time leading World Cup goalscorer with 22 goals, one ahead of Lionel Messi on 21 ahead of Argentina’s final date with Spain on Sunday.
The French substitutes fared better in the ratings as defender Dayot Upamecano was handed an 8/10 rating, putting him on par with England’s hat-trick hero Saka, and Bradley Barcola was rated a 7/10.
France manager Didier Deschamps, in his final game in charge, was handed a 4/10 rating for the game, a harsh but probably fair assessment for a man who won the World Cup as both a player and a coach for his country.
England’s players also came in for some criticism as goalkeeper Dean Henderson’s performance was rated as 3/10, as was defenders Jarell Quansah and Marc Guehi’s.
After scoring twice in the first half, Saka completed his treble with a late penalty to finish as England’s star man, while Rice and Marcus Rashford were both handed 6/10 ratings.
Ollie Watkins was the only Three Lions substitute who was rated at 4/10. Coach Thomas Tuchel came in for intense criticism from all angles following England's 2-1 defeat to Argentina in the semi-final but managed to guide the team to their second-best World Cup finish with third place, and was given a 6/10 by L’Equipe for his efforts on Saturday.
L'Equipe's France player ratings in full
Mike Maignan 3/10
Theo Hernandez 2/10
Maxence Lacroix 3/10
Ibrahima Konte 2/10
Malo Gusto 2/10
Adrien Rabiot 4/10
Warren Zaire-Emery 4/10
Desire Doue 2/10
Rayan Cherki 2/10
Michael Olise 5/10
Kylian Mbappe 7/10
L'Equipe's England player ratings in full
Dean Henderson 3/10
Djed Spence 4/10
Marc Guehi 3/10
Ezri Konsa 4/10
Jarell Quansah 3/10
Declan Rice 6/10
Marcus Rashford 6/10
Eberechi Eze 5/10
Morgan Rogers 5/10
Bukayo Saka 8/10
Ivan Toney 4/10
