Spain reached the final of the 2026 World Cup after defeating France on Tuesday evening.
France, in the eyes of many, were favourites to win this year's tournament due to their attacking talent. However, they failed to make an impact against Spain, who produced a masterclass at Dallas Stadium.
Spain beat France in the semi-finals of Euro 2024, and they got the better of Les Bleus again on Tuesday as they won 2-0. Luis de La Fuente's side booked their place in the final thanks to goals either side of half-time from Mikel Oyarazbal and Pedro Porro.
Rodri, winner of the Ballon d'Or in 2024, was absolutely sensational in his side's victory. He wasn't overly happy in his post-match interview, though.
Rodri Makes Complaint After France 0-2 Spain
RodriEloisa Sanchez via Reuters
Rodri expressed his happiness at how his team had played after the match. He said, per the Metro: "I’m very proud of my team and what it represents for us. Now it’s time to rest because we probably have the most important match of our lives on Sunday.
"Nullifying the opponent was part of what we wanted to achieve and then to take the game to our style of play. It was impressive.
"We all needed each other. I had a lot of help in the midfield to control such a physical and aggressive team on second balls – I would say it was a very complete match."
Rodri wasn't happy with the officials in the match, though. He felt that Spain's players, particularly Lamine Yamal, were on the wrong end of 'too many fouls'. He said this is a problem they have endured for the past few games and called out the officials for not being strict enough and protecting their young star.
He added: "We’ve been dealing with this situation for three games now, there have been too many fouls.
"We’re talking about 10 or 15 fouls where the kid [Lamine Yamal] goes to the ground. If the referees do not call them, then the defence will keep doing the same thing.
"The permissiveness is clear and was especially obvious today. But he still played a great match."
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Rayan Cherki: France Beat Ourselves
Rayan Cherki in action for France vs Spain at the 2026 World CupIMAGN IMAGES via Reuters/Jerome Miron
Rayan Cherki was convinced his France side are a better team than Spain and said that Les Bleus 'beat themselves'. Speaking after the game, he said:
"They were better in every aspect of the game. They wanted it more than we did. I am convinced that we are the better team, but this afternoon they were superior. They did not apply excessive pressure, it wasn’t all over the pitch; there was time to play. Maybe we didn’t know how to control our emotions.
“It’s an immense disappointment. Today we lost against ourselves. We didn’t lose against the referee, we didn’t lose against Spain, we lost against ourselves. You all know that everyone was scared of us. The only team who were capable of eliminating us was ourselves. Today is terrible.”
Spain will face either England or Argentina in the World Cup final at New York New Jersey Stadium on Sunday, July 19. Spain are looking to win the tournament for the second time, having emerged victorious in 2010.