Didier Deschamps: France showed 'mental quality' against Croatia to win World Cup

Monday 16 July 2018 09:30, UK

Didier Deschamps praised France's mental strength after they won the World Cup with a 4-2 victory over Croatia on Sunday.

Les Bleus claimed the trophy for a second time after seeing off a strong challenge from Croatia in Moscow.

The 1998 champions played most of the match on the back foot, but scored twice in each half to overcome Croatia.

France 4-2 Croatia
As it happened

As Deschamps prepared to begin his post-match media conference he was mobbed by France players chanting his name and soaking him with whatever drink came to hand.

"They are a little crazy, they have always been a little mad," he said with the broadest of smiles. "They are young and they are happy."

"It's a young team, who are on the top of the world.

"Some are champions at the age of 19. We did not play a huge game but we showed mental quality. And we scored four goals anyway. They deserved to win.

"The group worked so hard and we had some tough moments along the way. It hurt so much to lose the Euros two years ago, but it made us learn too.

"The win is not about me, it's the players who won the game. For 55 days, we have done a lot of work. It is the supreme coronation. We are proud to be French. The victory in the match belongs to them."

France only had 39 per cent of the possession in the final and managed eight shots compared to 15 from Croatia.

However, a Mario Mandzukic own goal put them ahead before Antoine Griezmann struck from the penalty spot and then Paul Pogba and Kylian Mbappe scored in the second half.

Deschamps added: "I had a very young group, 14 of them were on a discovery journey in the World Cup. But the quality was there. My greatest source of pride with this group is that they managed to have the right state of mind for such a tournament. I repeat all the time: never give up, never give up anything.

"There are imperfections and today we didn't do everything right but we do have those mental and psychological qualities that were decisive for this World Cup. In the first half of this final we didn't have much but we were leading 2-1.

"So, of course the question to be asked is always: are France a beautiful champion? Well, we are world champions and France are going to be on top of the world for the next four years. That's what needs to be remembered."

Griezmann said: "I do not know where I am! I am really happy. It was a very difficult match, Croatia had a great game.

"We came back and we managed to make the difference. We cannot wait to lift the cup and bring it back to France."