Olivier Giroud was hooked in the first half (Photo by Alex Livesey – Danehouse/Getty Images)

France boss Didier Deschamps insists he was forced into taking Olivier Giroud and Ousmane Dembele off in the 40th minute of the World Cup final, otherwise his side soon would have gone 3-0 down.

The French were beaten on penalties by Argentina in Qatar, with Lionel Messi finally getting his hands on the trophy that has alluded him so far in his stellar career.

The PSG playmaker opened the scoring from the penalty spot before Angel Di Maria doubled Argentina’s lead.

The scoreline reflected Argentina’s superiority and they had chances to make it 3-0 before half-time, which surely would have finished the game.

France didn’t have a single shot on target in the opening 45 minutes and Deschamps was fuming on the sidelines, with his side producing their worst performance of the tournament.

Instead of waiting for half-time, Deschamps hooked Giroud and Dembele in the 40th minute to introduce Marcus Thuram and Kolo Muani.

Giroud made way for Thuram (Photo by Jewel SAMAD / AFP) (Photo by JEWEL SAMAD/AFP via Getty Images)

Though it took time for France to get their attacking game going, the substitutions stemmed the tide of Argentina’s attacks and it allowed Kylian Mbappe to level the game with two goals in 90 seconds ten minutes from the end of normal time.

And, though the two-time champions went on to lose the match, Deschamps says he has no regrets about his controversial decision and said he had to take Giroud and Dembele off to keep the scoreline down.

‘If we had been 3-0 down, we couldn’t have complained,’ said Deschamps.

‘We didn’t do the right things for an hour, but then with a lot of courage, energy and quality, we pushed Argentina to the limit.

‘If I made those changes so early, it’s because I was not satisfied and I felt convinced we could do better.

‘That doesn’t mean the players who went off were more guilty than the others.’

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