Fuming Antoine Griezmann admits Spain were 'better in everything' after France crash out of Euro 2024 as he laments failure to shut down Lamine Yamal

Didier Deschamps took the bold decision of benching the Atletico Madrid superstar during the crucial semi-final against Spain on Tuesday evening - and instead chose to field Randal Kolo Muani to rejuvenate a blunt forward line. His decision seemed to be the right call initially as the forward took just nine minutes to hand Les Bleus the lead.

However, their joy soon turned to despair as Yamal took things into his own hands and curled in a pile driver from outside the box after Adrien Rabiot allowed him the space to load and shoot. Dani Olmo scored the eventual winner for Spain four minutes later which was enough to seal their place in the title decider. Although Griezmann was later introduced in the match, the forward did little to inspire a comeback and keep the French hopes alive.

Griezmann was fuming after the match as he bitterly admitted that they were outplayed in every department by La Roja. He was frustrated that Yamal was allowed the space to pull the trigger and in an interview with Telefoot after the match, he remarked: "They were better than us. We knew they could hit the ball well from distance and we let them shoot from distance. We knew Lamine is left-footed and we let him hit it with his left foot. The equaliser hurt us and the second goal four minutes later killed us. That's football, we lacked that today. It was our strong point from the start but we lost against a strong Spain. No excuses about having legs cut off or anything, they played extra time too. They were better in everything."

Despite being labelled as one of the tournament favourites before the start of their campaign, France were lacklustre and struggled in attack. They had not scored a goal from open play until Kolo Muani found the net and looked out of ideas when they attempted to script a comeback against a fluent Spanish side who have undergone a serious evolution under Luis de La Fuente. The summit clash will take place on Sunday in Berlin between Spain and the victors of the second semi-final between England and Netherlands.