Patrick Vieira slams three France stars after Spain dominate World Cup semi-final

France went out of the World Cup with a whimper (Picture: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

Former France and

Arsenal

star

Patrick Vieira

took aim at two Les Bleus stars after their limp

World Cup

exit against Spain.

La Roja booked their place in Sunday’s final after outclassing France in Texas on Tuesday night in a 2-0 victory.

The

Euro 2024

champions took the lead after 22 minutes with Mikel Oyarzabal blasting home his penalty after

Lamine Yamal

was cut down by Lucas Digne. The

Aston Villa

full-back was caught unaware as the Spain winger broke into the box, swinging out a leg and catching the Barcelona star.

Digne was among those at fault for Spain’s second just before the hour mark as Dani Olmo and

Pedro Porro

played a delightful one-two on the edge of the box with the

Tottenham

star lashing home.

While Digne’s performance was criticised, former France international Vieira also singled out Desire Doue for his role in Spain’s second goal, believing the Paris Saint-Germain star was guilty of failing to track Porro’s run.

‘Digne of course should do better. We are talking about someone with experience. But on the other side Doue has the responsibility as well,’ Vieira told ITV1.

‘The one-two was played around him, he has to be around him to stop his run or follow him. We can blame Digne for his tactical position but Doue has to be more decisive and more defensive-minded.

Doue criticised for his role in Spain’s second (Picture: Pablo Morano/BSR Agency/Getty Images)

‘We are talking about someone who won the Champions League. Defensively the awareness has to go to a different level.’

Spain dominated the competition favourites with Vieira hailing the collective tactical performance from Luis de la Fuente’s side.

The former Arsenal star conceded Michael Olise, who lit up the competition in its earlier stages, ‘did not get involved’, mainly due to the quality of the Spanish performance.

Olise did not get any room to operate (Picture: Rico Brouwer/Soccrates/Getty Images)

‘Spain were the better team, France did not turn up at all,’ Vieira said.

‘I said before Spain had to be at their best to beat this French team and I think they were above that. Collectively it was fantastic from them.

‘Tactically they were all over them. Olise was the main man and we needed him to get on the ball but they stopped him and he didn’t get involved in the game.

Home

divider

Sport

Football

Related topics

France football team

Spain football team

Michael Owen urges Thomas Tuchel to drop England World Cup star for Argentina clash

Channel: Football

7 hours ago

By

Ben Fleming

BBC pundit slams 'dreadful' France star after World Cup semi-final defeat to Spain

1 hour ago

Louis Sealey