Dembele angered France team-mates with comments during World Cup semi-final

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A group of

France

players were reportedly left angered by

Ousmane Dembele's

words at half-time during their

World Cup

semi-final loss to

Spain

.

Didier Deschamps'

side

suffered a 2-0 defeat

in Dallas on Tuesday, failing to reach a third successive World Cup final despite being favourites to win the tournament.

France went behind to Mikel Oyarzabal's 22nd-minute penalty and had it all to do in the second half. Many expected a response which never came.

Les Blues would concede again before the hour mark and fell to a limp loss. With the fallout still ongoing, it's been claimed that Dembele, 29, criticised his team-mates for their poor pressing.

L'Equipe

report that some of his team-mates were irritated by the

Paris Saint-Germain

star's comments, feeling that he was trying to absolve himself of blame. But judging by his post-match comments, captain

Kylian Mbappe

agreed with Dembele.

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"Right from the start, we were pressing three against two. We messed up there," Mbappe confessed. "Against Spain, we need to press one for one. And even when we recovered the ball.

"Our ball touches, and our movements were not worthy of a World Cup semi-final. We did not have what it takes to go to the World Cup final, to be honest."

Deschamps, who'll leave his post after Saturday's third-place play-off against

England

, also wasn't happy with his players executed his tactics. "We were a bit below par and less dangerous offensively than we could have been," the France manager bemoaned.

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"We made a few technical errors and missed passes that could have led to situations and chances. We have to accept it; this is the highest level, even if it hurts.

"It was the last step before this potential final... So we'll play the third-place match. We'll play it; it doesn't take anything away from what we've achieved. But in this match, Spain showed something extra."

Former France captain

Zinedine Zidane

is expected to be named as Deschamps' successor, having been out of work since leaving

Real Madrid

in 2021. His first games would be in the

Nations League

, where they've been drawn in a group containing

Turkey

,

Belgium

and

Italy