Deschamps after defeat and farewell: "That is my fault"

France's World Cup journey ended with a bitter 4:6 defeat against England (read the match report >>>).

For coach Didier Deschamps, it was also the last game of his 14-year era at the helm of the "Equipe Tricolore".

He made seven changes to his team compared to the last match. This did not have the desired effect. In the first half, they conceded four goals and appeared visibly lost.

Deschamps takes the blame

"The fact that we didn't succeed is, of course, my fault; we should have done more in the first half," explained the coach after the game.

Despite the defeat, he said he had experienced a wonderful adventure with the team at the World Cup.

Game "will not damage the coach's legacy"

Kylian Mbappé, who initiated the comeback with the 4:1 goal and also contributed to the 3:4, found the failure against England "a shame" for his coach.

He explained: "We wanted to win the game for him, to give him a gift."

France's star player added: "Unfortunately, in the first half, we felt like we had disappointed him. We wanted to thank him for everything he has done, but this game will not damage Didier Deschamps' legacy."

It was also clear to him that the defeat was due to the first half: "I think it was a game with two completely different faces. In the first half, we were completely overwhelmed and shaken up by the opponent. In the second half, we came back as world-class players and won that half, but ultimately, we couldn't decide the entire game in our favour."

Mbappé temporarily takes record from Messi

Nevertheless, he has temporary reason to celebrate: With a brace in the last World Cup match, he now has a total of 22 World Cup goals. This means he takes the record for most goals from Lionel Messi, at least until Sunday evening.

However, he is convinced that he will have to give it back. "Leo always scores. He will definitely score tomorrow," explained Mbappé.