Didier Deschamps has admitted France were ‘lucky’ to beat ‘superb’ England to set up a World Cup semi-final clash against Morocco.
The defending champions beat the Three Lions 2-1 as Gareth Southgate’s side once again suffered penalty heartbreak.
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Aurelien Tchouameni and Olivier Giroud scored either side of Harry Kane’s equaliser in what was another dramatic World Cup knockout clash.
Having already scored once from the penalty spot, Kane was given a second chance in the 85th minute after Mason Mount was barged over by Theo Hernandez – a decision Adrien Rabiot has slammed.
But he failed to beat Tottenham teammate Hugo Lloris for a second time as he blazed his effort from 12 yards out over the bar.
Following the victory, Les Bleus boss Deschamps praised the performance from both nations, as he said: “It’s fabulous, it was a big game.
“We played a superb England team who are strong technically and physically.
“It’s brilliant for the players to be in the last four again. In these moments you kind of wish time could stop for a while.
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“But tonight we’re going to enjoy it. We got a bit lucky although we gave away two penalties.
“We kept our lead with our hearts and our guts.”
He added: “England have a very good team and what they showed in terms of technical ability, intensity, even though we put up a good fight, was impressive.
“I regret the fact we gave them a penalty, and then another penalty, which was missed, but credit my team as well. We did some good things.
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“We were dangerous and we have great quality. We also have impressive mental strength. We also have experience, but England have experience as well.
“They have some young players but they’re young players who play in some of the top teams in Europe.
“It comes down to details and luckily it went our way. Sometimes you need a bit of luck.”
Juventus midfielder Rabiot has stated it was ‘justice’ that Kane missed his late spot-kick after being outraged that Hernandez was penalised.
He remarked: “First of all, I’m not sure that it’s really a foul. We’ve seen hundreds of actions like that that aren’t given.
“Of course, when he’s missed, we were happy, it was justice because there was no penalty.”
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France’s record-goalscorer Giroud also felt France got lucky, but in the end deserved their place in the semi-final.
“The match tonight reminded me of the match against Belgium in 2018,” he said.
“We fought tooth and nail, they came back into the match, started to believe but we showed we could be dangerous on the counter attack.
“We were a bit lucky because Kane misses the penalty, but we gave our all and fought tooth and nail. It reminds me of the mentality of 2018. This group deserves to get there.”
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