Spain's captain Rodri bossed the midfield against France.
France arrived in the Fifa World Cup semi-finals hailed as the most scintillating attacking force to grace the global tournament since Brazil's fabled 1982 side.
But like Zico, Éder, Falcão and Sócrates before them, Kylian Mbappé and company found out the hard way that dazzling football is no guarantee of survival.
A hitherto sparkling French campaign full of offensive pyrotechnics fizzled out like a dud Bastille Day firework in a painful 2-0 defeat on Tuesday night — a loss that is likely to tarnish the managerial legacy of head coach Didier Deschamps.
Between them, Mbappé, Ousmane Dembélé, Michael Olise, Bradley Barcola and Désiré Doué had helped France rattle in 16 goals in six matches en route to the semi-final. Yet, in a comprehensive Spanish masterclass at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, it took France's vaunted attacking arsenal more than 75 minutes to even register a single shot on target.
