"Didn't Turn Up At All": France Legend Tears Into Kylian Mbappe, Michael Olise, Others
France legend Patrick Vieira slammed Kylian Mbappe, Michael Olise, Ousmane Dembele, and other players after the 0-2 defeat to Spain that led to their elimination from the FIFA World Cup 2026.
- France lost to Spain in the FIFA World Cup 2026 semi-final on Tuesday
- Kylian Mbappé, Michael Olise, and Ousmane Dembélé underperformed against Spain
- Patrick Vieira criticized France for poor performance against Spain: "Didn't turn up at all"
France simply didn't know what to do against a technically superior Spain as the two sides squared off in the FIFA World Cup 2026 semi-final on Tuesday. The likes of Kylian Mbappé, Michael Olise and Ousmane Dembélé, who have been France's best players in the tournament so far, couldn't create the same impact against Spain. For Patrick Vieira, one of the icons in the history of the French team, the players simply didn't turn up when they were needed most.
"Spain won the game in every aspect. The French team didn't turn up at all," Vieira said in a chat on ITV1 after the end of the game. "I said before that Spain needed to be at their best to beat the French team and they did it."
For Vieira, Olise's failure against Spain was a decisive factor in France's defeat. The former Arsenal man was impressed to see how well La Roja marshalled their troops to prevent the Bayern Munich winger from influencing the game.
"Olise was the main man, we needed him to get on the ball, but they stopped him playing, he didn't get on the ball," Vieira added. "It was a big expectation of France to win the World Cup. We are all really disappointed by the result but mostly by the performance. We needed our top players to perform today, and they didn't do it. It wasn't one or two, it was all of them collectively. It was really bad."
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Vieira also called out France left-back Lucas Digne, who gave away the penalty to Spain that led to their opening goal, as well as Desire Doue, the left-winger, for not doing enough defensively.
"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 said.
"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," Vieira said, targeting the duo on the left flank for France.
While France are out of the race for the final, they can still end the World Cup 2026 campaign on a high by winning the third-place playoff on Saturday.
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