‘Mbappe has always behaved maturely’
After France survived a contentious round of 16 clash with a 1-0 victory over Paraguay on Saturday, French manager Didier Deschamps tried to take the high road.
France somehow ended the match with all three bookings from Uzbek referee Ilgiz Tantashev, despite Paraguay sitting deep and defending.
But that state of affairs was mostly understood and expected from Deschamps and his French charges on a sweltering afternoon that was the hottest match of this World Cup.
“I’ve seen a lot of things,” Deschamps said through an interpreter. “I have prepared the players. The players were expecting this game.
“I do not want to criticize Paraguay. Each team plays the way they want. But there were some insults from the other bench which I could have done without.”
Deschamps counted his charges lucky to escape the match without a red.
“The most important thing is that by the end of the game, there were no disagreements and that we did not get another card. We got three yellow cards with a lot of fouls.
“I’m not saying that we did not make any fouls, but there were a lot from both teams.”
Manu Kone, Bradley Barcola and Michael Olise were the booked players.
Admirably, France goal-scorer Kylian Mbappe avoided joining them despite persistent Paraguayan provocation.
Asked whether it showed growth for France’s 27-year-old captain, Deschamps replied that Mbappe has always behaved maturely with his national team.