'Is the referee up to the task of a semi-final?' - Didier Deschamps points finger at officiating after France dumped out of World Cup by Spain

In the wake of a 2-0 defeat that ended France's quest of a third global title, Deschamps made no secret of his anger at Barton’s handling of the match. The match turned in the 22nd minute when Mikel Oyarzabal converted from the spot after Lamine Yamal was adjudged to have been fouled by Lucas Digne.

Deschamps was clearly agitated by the decision, suggesting that the ball had struck Yamal's arm before the contact occurred. "If I say anything, I'll look like a sore loser because we lost," the 57-year-old head coach said. "But I ask you: is the referee up to the task of officiating a semi-final? There's the penalty, but that's not all; it adds to everything else. I have nothing against the referee tonight, but ask yourselves the question."

Beyond the officiating drama, the France coach admitted that his side were second best in almost every department. Spain doubled their lead through Pedro Porro in the 58th minute, leaving a French attack featuring Kylian Mbappe and Michael Olise completely toothless. The stats told a damning story, with France failing to even manage a shot from close range until the dying embers of the game.

"To have any hope, we needed to be at our best," Deschamps admitted. "Unfortunately, we weren't. Today [Spain] defended extremely well. They left us very little space. On top of that, because we made technical mistakes, it became difficult to create problems for them. Our technical level was below what we'd shown in previous matches."

He added: "Compared with them, in our passing combinations and sequences, they're also excellent at reading the game and intercepting passes. We couldn't find solutions. I don't want to say that our attacking and technical expression simply disappeared on its own. That's normally one of our strengths.

"There was also a lot of merit on the opponent's side. I'm not going to condemn everything we did or erase what we've accomplished. But I'll repeat it: in a match like this, against a team like Spain, you have to be at your absolute maximum. France wasn't at that level tonight."

While the manager focused on the referee and execution, team captain Mbappe turned his attention to the dugout. The Real Madrid superstar was visibly frustrated by how Spain's midfield was allowed to dictate the rhythm of the game. Mbappe suggested that the tactical plan failed to curb the influence of La Roja's playmakers.

"We were three against two in midfield and against Spain, that's hard," Mbappe said. "Fabian [Ruiz] and Rodri had plenty of time to play. There was a lack of communication on the press. I think we should have done man-to-man press and force them to run with us. We didn't play the game we wanted, technically, tactically. When you don't do what you have to do in a World Cup semi-final, you don't win."

The defeat marks a somber conclusion to Deschamps' illustrious 14-year reign at the helm of the national team. Despite the disappointment, the manager refused to let one night tarnish a legacy that included four consecutive runs to at least the quarter-finals of the World Cup, including winning the 2018 tournament and reaching the final four years ago. He highlighted that the team simply ran out of control against an elite opponent.

"We didn't control things well enough," he noted. "The opponent forced us into mistakes. But this was a World Cup semifinal. For two of [our] players it was their first one. That doesn't take away anything from what we did well before this. I don't want to diminish everything that had been accomplished." With Zinedine Zidane reportedly waiting in the wings after the tournament, France must now pick themselves up for a third-place play-off in Miami.