Didier Deschamps not bothered by 'boring' France claims

Didier Deschamps says people who are bored with his France team's style of play can watch something else instead of Tuesday's Euro 2024 semi-final with Spain.

Les Bleus have been criticised by some for a lack of entertainment in their matches, with BBC pundit and former Premier League striker Chris Sutton last week saying he would "close the curtains" if they were playing in his back garden.

It comes after France have reached the last four of the tournament in Germany with none of their players scoring a goal from open play.

Their three goals at the Euros have been two own goals and a penalty scored by Kylian Mbappe in the 1-1 draw with Poland in the group stage.

In Monday's pre-match news conference, Deschamps was asked about playing "boring football" by one journalist, to which he responded: "If you are bored, watch another game - you don't have to watch us, it's fine.

"Maybe it's not the same as it was in the past, but we do have the capability to spark emotions and make lots of French men and women happy with our results, especially after a difficult period in our country."

Spain boss Luis de la Fuente dismissed the suggestion that France are boring, saying at this stage it is all about the result.

"We all try to build a gameplan that will help you win," he said.

"Spain are an eye-catching team, I won't deny that, it's our DNA, but in the end, here it's about winning. We want to play, but we want to be practical.

"Our way to get the result is to try to be eye-catching. But at this stage it's the result that counts because it is how your job will get judged and evaluated in the end."

Key to France's lack of goals has been the disappointing form of forwards Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann.

Mbappe has struggled since having to wear a mask after breaking his nose during France's opening 1-0 win against Austria.

The striker, who this summer joined Real Madrid from Paris St-Germain, scored eight of France's 16 goals at the World Cup in Qatar two years ago as they reached the final, where they were beaten by Argentina.

Despite just scoring one goal so far in Germany, France captain Mbappe is likely to start against Spain.

"We are convinced Kylian is in the right headspace, as are all of our players," Deschamps added.

"He had an issue with his back, took a blow to the nose - it could have been the end of the road for him but he's still here.

"His field of vision is changed and it was a huge shock to him but I'm convinced he will do everything he can [against Spain]."

Atletico Madrid striker Griezmann has yet to score, but team-mate Adrien Rabiot says all the players are right behind him.

"I think everyone is surprised because we know what Antoine is capable of," Rabiot said.

"We saw what he pulled out of the bag at the World Cup, where he was at the peak of his powers as a player.

"I don't know the reason. We have high expectations when it comes to Antoine and we expect a lot because he's capable.

"If someone's having a rough patch then we're here to support them, but obviously it'd be better if we had the Kylian and the Antoine [we know] playing here at the Euros."

By contrast Spain have been in excellent form at Euro 2024, winning all five games and scoring the most goals with 11.

They also have two of the most exciting youngsters at the tournament in Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams.

But despite their impressive results, Spain were pushed by hosts Germany in the quarter-finals, before Mikel Merino's 119th-minute header sealed a 2-1 win.

Chelsea defender Marc Cucurella has been particularly impressive for Spain at this European Championship, and he will be key to ensuring France's forward line are frustrated once again.

"We are a group of players that give everything for our team-mates and that's one of the secrets," Cucurella said.

"I think we have created a great group. We have a mix of veterans and very young players and that makes it all very enjoyable. The key is to be like a family.

"We may not have superstars, but as a team we are good, we are doing well and I hope we keep it that way."'

Spain are without suspended duo Dani Carvajal and Robin le Normand, while midfielder Pedri has been ruled out of the remainder of the tournament with a knee injury.

One of Dani Olmo or Merino, who scored as Spain knocked out Germany in the quarter-finals, will likely replace Pedri.

France, meanwhile, welcome back Rabiot from suspension. Otherwise Les Bleus have no new suspensions or injury concerns.

Match stats

This is the sixth meeting between Spain and France at a major tournament. France won three of the first four (2-0 in Euro 1984 final, 2-1 in Euro 2000 quarter-final, 3-1 in 2006 World Cup last 16), while Spain won the most recent game 2-0 win in the Euro 2012 quarter-finals. The other game was a 1-1 draw during the Euro 1996 group stage.

Meeting in the Euro 2024 semi-final, and having already met in the group stage (1996), last 16 (2006), quarter-finals (2000 and 2012) and final (1984) of major tournaments, Spain v France will be just the third fixture to be played at each stage of World Cup and Euros, along with Italy v Spain and England v Germany.

Spain are the only team who have won all five matches at Euro 2024. No team in European Championship history has won six matches in a single tournament and no team has ever won six Euros games in a row.

France are looking to reach their fourth Euros final (1984, 2000 and 2016) but only the second not played on French soil (Euro 2000 in the Netherlands). Spain, meanwhile, are looking to reach their fifth final, with only Germany playing in more (six). The Spaniards have progressed from four of five semi-finals, but lost on penalties to eventual winners Italy at this stage at Euro 2020.

There have only been four goals scored in France’s five Euro 2024 matches (three for, one against), with those either penalties (two) or own goals (two). All 128 non-penalty shots have failed to be scored (86 for France, 42 for opponents), while France are the only team on record since 1980 to have more than 50 non-penalty shots at a Euros and fail to find the net with any of them.

Source: BBC