Rayan Cherki clashed with Didier Deschamps on the touchline during France’s 6-4 defeat to England in the World Cup third-place match on Saturday. The Manchester City midfielder, handed his first start of the tournament by Deschamps, was substituted at half time after a poor performance as England raced to a 4-0 lead by the break.
Cherki's Reaction to Deschamps' Instructions
During the first-half hydration break, an animated Deschamps was seen giving instructions to Cherki as he approached the touchline. However, the City midfielder responded by waving his hand and turning his back to France’s head coach before walking away, according to footage from the match.
This was not the first incident between the two at the World Cup. Earlier in the tournament, Cherki appeared to ignore Deschamps after coming on as a late substitute in France’s win over Sweden in the last-32.
Deschamps' Post-Match Comments
When asked about Cherki's attitude during the hydration break, Deschamps said after the match: 'I’m not going to settle scores today. The players know perfectly well. I’m not going to point fingers. However, I always tell them, and as Kylian said, they needed time to process it but it was my mistake, I should have made different choices from the start of the match, you can say that, and perhaps things would have gone better. Everyone is judged on their performance. Obviously, some players could have done better. I wish them all the best.'
Rabiot Criticizes Teammates
France midfielder Adrien Rabiot also criticised the attitude of some of his teammates during the opening 45 minutes against England. 'We started the first half in a shameful way,' Rabiot said. 'I saw behaviour from some players that I’d never seen before. It’s disappointing, it was the last match to put on a good show. There’s a lot of disappointment [after the defeat to Spain], but there was work to be done, we can’t just be content with sloppy play. In the first half, the behaviour was quite unacceptable.'
Match Summary
In a thrilling game for the World Cup bronze medal in Miami, England found themselves four goals up by half time following a shambolic opening 45 minutes for France. Deschamps’ side staged a comeback after the break and scored three without reply to set up a tense finish. Bukayo Saka then scored a penalty to complete his hat-trick before Ousmane Dembele struck in injury time to give France another glimmer of hope. However, Jude Bellingham completed England’s 6-4 victory with a brilliant solo goal in the seventh minute of injury time.
