Jose Mourinho has hit out at France after their Euro 2020 exit to Switzerland by saying they celebrated the prospect of beating their opponents too early after Paul Pogba’s goal.
Les Bleus crashed out of the tournament on penalties to the Swiss after a thrilling 3-3 draw in normal time. Kylian Mbappe’s crucial spot kick was saved by goalkeeper Yann Sommer to send the 2018 World Cup winners home at the last-16 stage.
France trailed 1-0 at half-time but a Karim Benzema double and Paul Pogba wonder goal put them 3-1 up – only for Switzerland to bite back to score two late goals to send the game into an additional period.
Mourinho claims he ‘didn’t like’ the reaction of the France players after Pogba’s brilliant strike from distance to put them 3-1 up, with the Manchester United man choosing to dance with Presnel Kimpembe after the goal went in.
Pogba’s former coach told talkSPORT: ‘France can only blame themselves. They started the game against Switzerland bad, they recovered in a fantastic way, showing the immense talent they had.
‘But when I saw the way they celebrated the third goal, I didn’t like it. I had the feeling of, these guys are already celebrating on the Eiffel Tower, dancing here, dancing there.
‘I don’t know what dance they did but they did a couple of different dances. Twenty minutes to go, the game is not over.’
Mourinho also criticised France manager Didier Deschamps for making negative substitutions as France were trying to see out the game.
When Haris Seferovic scored his second goal of the game to make it 3-2 to France with just minutes to go before stoppage time, Deschamps replaced Antoine Griezmann with midfielder Moussa Sissoko with Mario Gavranovic levelling the tie just minutes later.
Mourinho claims ‘everything went wrong’ for France and that Deschamps’ side can be the most disappointed out of the three teams to qualify from the ‘Group of Death’ that went out in the first knockout round.
The Portugeuse coach added: ‘The way they approached the last minutes of the game was not the best.
‘They thought the game, it’s over because they took Griezmann out when there was the risk of playing extra-time. Then they conceded two goals and it goes to extra-time. Then Benzema is injured, then everything went wrong for them.
‘France is the team (from the Group of Death) that can blame themselves, Portugal and Germany, they lost against England and Belgium. This if football, you can lose against good teams.’
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