Deschamps' harsh attack on FIFA and Iván Barton: "Is it up to the task of a semi-final?"
Didier Deschamps did not find another resource to justify part of the elimination in Iván Barton's refereeing performance, which went from less to more
The coach of the France team, Didier Deschamps, pointed out the refereeing of Salvadoran Iván Barton to explain the elimination of his team in the 2026 World Cup at the hands of Spain. Although the Central American whistler started with doubts and improved with the minutes, the French strategist considered that his work was not up to the standards of a semifinal.
France ended up succumbing 2-1 to the Spanish, in a match conditioned by a penalty action that paved the way to defeat. According to the French newspaper Le Parisien, Deschamps questioned the referee's suitability for a game of such relevance: "I don't want to come off as a crybaby, because we lost, but...Is the referee up to the task of refereeing a World Cup semi-final?" he questioned.
Although the strategist wanted to qualify his statements by pointing out that he was not accusing anyone in particular, his attack on FIFA for the appointment of a Concacaf referee was evident. "I'm not just saying it because we lost today. There were quite a few situations that worked against us," the French helmsman insisted.
Barton had decisive decisions. At minute 22, he awarded a penalty against France after a reckless action by Lucas Digne on Lamine Yamal. Mikel Oyarzabal changed the foul into a goal to open the scoring, leading Spain to a victory with total authority.
With this victory, the Spanish squad gained revenge for the painful defeat suffered against the French in the round of 16 of the 2006 World Cup. On that occasion, the Iberians fell 3-1 with goals from Franck Ribéry, Patrick Vieira and Zinedine Zidane, after having started winning with a goal from David Villa.