France were taught a lesson in aggression by Colombia, says Deschamps

Juan Quintero's late penalty gave Colombia a superb 3-2 win over France, which left Didier Deschamps far from happy.

Published : Mar 24, 2018 04:54 IST

France boss Didier Deschamps felt his side were taught "a lesson in aggression" in their 3-2 home defeat to Colombia.

Olivier Giroud and Thomas Lemar put the home side 2-0 up after 28 minutes at the Stade de France in Friday's friendly, but goals from Luis Muriel, Radamel Falcao and Juan Quintero secured a memorable comeback for the visitors.

Deschamps accused his players of allowing complacency to creep into their performance and admits they must improve quickly in the build-up to the World Cup.

"We had a lot of trouble. They put in more aggression, and we did not do so at all," he told TMC.

"We had losses of the ball that put them back on track. This Colombian team has given us a lesson in aggression. They don't let go.

"We showed a level of cockiness at times. It doesn't please me, especially what I saw in the second half. We'll take some time to analyse it.

"We haven't met the demands of the highest level. We have no excuses. It's a game we've lost at home, which is never fun."

Centre-back Raphael Varane says France must learn to sustain their performance level over a whole game after they were undone by mistakes and a loss of focus.

"We lacked concentration at times," said the Real Madrid centre-back. "We started very well by scoring two goals, then there was some relaxing. There were also some individual errors.

"These are matches for working and improving. We knew they were an aggressive team. We controlled the start but we have to be consistent over 90 minutes."

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