Rabiot slams France team-mates after 'unacceptable' and 'shameful' England loss
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France midfielder
Adrien Rabiot
has hit out at some of his team-mates for their 'shameful' attitude towards their third-place play-off against
England
. Les Blues were beaten 6-4 in Miami on Saturday but were on course for an historic drubbing when England
raced into a 4-0 lead
before half-time.
Captain
Kylian Mbappe
inspired a second-half fightback but England managed to get over the line. It certainly wasn't how France wanted to bow out of the
World Cup
, especially given that it was manager
Didier Deschamps'
final game after 14 years in charge.
Deschamps' side were coming off a
disappointing 2-0 defeat to Spain
in the semi-finals, having been the clear favourites to win the tournament after an impressive start. And against England, Rabiot felt that their performance was 'unacceptable', claiming that the foundations for their display were laid before kick-off.
"We entered this first half in a pretty shameful manner," the
AC Milan
star told
beIN Sports
. "I've seen behaviours from certain players that I haven't seen until then, for a match like this.
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"It's true that it can be disappointing because it's the last match. We had to make a good impact in this competition. It's true that there is a lot of disappointment after the lost semi-final against Spain. There was a job that we needed to do until the end, we can't afford to botch things like that.
"We collected ourselves at half-time, we talked together and we said that we needed a little more pride, that we needed to show something. It was far better in the second half, but in the first, some behaviours were unacceptable."
"We need to emphasise the coach and the staff tonight. They did an excellent job. That's the thing we need to remember. He spoke up in the locker room and thanked everybody. I think we are the ones who need to thank him. We will remember it. We are grateful."
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.

Deschamps, who's set to be replaced in the dugout by former France captain
Zinedine Zidane
, took responsibility for the first half. "It is a defeat, but we were 4-0 down. We produced an unacceptable first half," he admitted.
"There was a reaction, with the things we know how to do well. We had two chances to make it 4-4, but we pushed forward a little more. That is what we know how to do, but we didn't do it. It is my fault because I must not have done what was needed in the first half."
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