‘We got a bit lucky’ – Olivier Giroud and Didier Deschamps say France showed guts in England win at World Cup

France rode their luck in the World Cup quarter-final win over England, according to Didier Deschamps and Olivier Giroud, but the striker believes the reigning champions possess the same winning mentality they showed four years ago in Russia.

Aurelien Tchouameni and Giroud struck for Les Bleus either side of a Harry Kane penalty to set up a semi-final clash with Morocco.

Things could have gone differently if Kane had converted his second spot kick of the night with six minutes remaining, but the England captain blazed over the bar.

“It was a big game, we played a superb England team who are strong technically and physically,” France manager Deschamps said.

“It’s brilliant for the players to be in the last four again. We got a bit lucky although we gave away two penalties but we kept our lead with our hearts and our guts.”

Giroud, who scored his 53rd France goal to go two clear of Thierry Henry as his country’s all-time top scorer, agreed – and made a comparison to the 1-0 semi-final win over Belgium four years ago.
“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.”

France will face Morocco in the semi-finals, with the winner taking on Croatia or Argentina in the final.