Notorious L’Equipe player ratings for World Cup final have ref getting just 2/10
After an emotional night for French publication L'Equipe, they have mustered up the strength to deliver some truly classic player ratings.
The newspaper is notorious for its savage ratings and harsh assessments of players over the years in Ligue 1, the Champions League and international tournaments such as the World Cup.
And Sunday night was no different after France lost to Argentina on penalties at the Duhail Stadium in Qatar in a pulsating clash that will live long in the memory. But perhaps the harshest rating of them all was for referee Szymon Marciniak – who received a two out of 10.
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Despite arguably getting all the big calls right, L'Equipe have brutalised the Polish official. Ousmane Dembele, though barely, did trip Angel di Maria in the box for the first penalty and Nicolas Otamendi absolutely fouled Randal Kolo Muani as he raced into the box.
In extra-time, the ref correctly called that Lautaro Martinez was not offside for Lionel Messi's second goal – despite the linesman flagging. And there can be no real complaints about France's second penalty when the ball struck Gonzalo Montiel's raised arm from Mbappe's shot.
However, their main gripe appears to be over Argentina's third goal when their subs briefly walked onto the pitch. According to the regulations, the goal should have been chalked off – though subs have often walked over the white line when warming up over the years with no punishment in the past.
It would have been a pretty big call to disallow that goal in that atmosphere at that time and a 2/10 rating for Marciniak seems harsh – even by L'Equipe's standards. Meanwhile, someone else who was savaged by the French paper was Dembele – who came off after 40 minutes.
L'Equipe pulled no punches, deeming the Barcelona star unworthy of a player rating, along with Olivier Giroud, who was also hooked at the same time.
They wrote: “Forty minutes unworthy of a World Cup final. Defensively, the Barcelona man was far too far from his direct opponents. He was put in the wind by Angel Di Maria before committing a questionable foul in the area to give away a penalty."
On Giroud, the assessment read: “The great story of Olivier Giroud in the France team could end on these 41 minutes disputed and these poor 12 balls touched. The striker did not see the light of day against an Argentine defence which dominated him even in the air, usually a strong point of Giroud."
The rest of the France squad did not fare too much better with Antoine Griezmann and Theo Hernandez receiving threes, Aurelien Tchouameni was given a four and Raphael Varane, Adrien Rabiot and Jules Kounde dealt fives.
Kylian Mbappe did receive a nine after scoring a hat-trick in the final, as well as netting his penalty in the shootout with ease. Frankly, even that score looks harsh as there is not much really the 23-year-old could do to help Les Bleus to a second World Cup in a row.
Ultimately, it came down to penalties where Kingsley Coman and Tchouameni both missed whereas Argentina scored all four of theirs to see them lift their third World Cup.
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