France is disappointed that they couldn’t defend their World Cup title against Argentina. However, France leaves Qatar feeling proud of having fought to the last, Raphael Varane said.
France came back two times through Kylian Maappe. He erased Argentina’s lead of 2-0 in 97 seconds normal time, before scoring an extra-time goal to tie it at 3-3.
However, the penalties won by South Americans were 4-2.
We are disappointed, but we did everything. Varane stated that we had to overcome many obstacles in the contest and gave up on everything.
We were out of the game for an hour. It was possible to win. This group is very French to me. Keep our heads up. When it was difficult, we came back to this game.
We pushed hard and believed till the end. The game was almost over, but it wasn’t going as planned. This group had a lot heart and mental strength. This allowed us to return in the game. “We are both disappointed and proud.”
Argentina was the stronger team at halftime and led by 2-0. Mbappe then brought Argentina level in the second half with goals in the 80th, 81st and 91st minutes. France’s skipper Lloris called the match a “boxing match”.
The Argentines started off well, aggressive and using every aspect of the game. The goalkeeper stated that we were somewhat reactionary throughout the night.
France also reached the final, having lost several players to sickness over the last week. Lloris however refused to excuse themselves.
He said, “We are not going to excuse ourselves. We gave everything.” You have to be proud of the men because they didn’t quit until the very end.
