Zlatan Ibrahimovic hammered the French national team after their World Cup exit, one which of course includes two AC Milan stars.
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The elimination of Didier Deschamps’ side at the hands of Spain continues to spark debate, because so much more was expected from France’s performance. Mike Maignan and Adrien Rabiot have a third-place play-off against England on Saturday, but wanted a rematch with Argentina on Sunday.
The pair were not exactly rated highly in the Spain game, but the failings were larger. Milan’s senior advisor Ibrahimovic offered his usual frank opinion during a segment on Fox Sports, in which he went into more detail about why he believes things fell so flat for Les Bleus when it mattered most.
“A few things could have been done differently during the match. That’s the difficult part for a coach, and that’s why they’re coaches or managers. They have to understand and know the right moment to act, when to change,” he said (via PianetaMilan).
“I had the impression that the French players weren’t ‘alive’, they weren’t active. Obviously, you don’t want to concede a goal to Spain and then have to chase the ball… they could have done more. Spain were the better team.”
Despite the criticism of the coach, Ibrahimovic wanted to praise the work that Deschamps has done in recent years and also what the French side have achieved.
“There are few extraordinary players who have also been extraordinary coaches. He’d already won a World Cup, won a Nations League, lost a European Championship final and a World Cup final… People think it’s easy, because they have so many stars on the pitch, but it’s not easy.
“There are so many things to manage, to keep under control. They always win trophies, and when they don’t, they still remain among the best, at the top, it’s only the last match they fail to win. This time they stumbled on the penultimate step.”
After a vacation following the England match, it will be time for Maignan and Rabiot to begin working under the orders of Amorim. They are expected to join the rest of the group at Milanello on August 12.