European champions Spain delivered a masterclass to snuff out France's dream of a third World Cup triumph on Tuesday, outplaying the tournament favourites to win 2-0 and progress to a final against England or Argentina.
Mikel Oyarzabal opened the scoring for La Roja with an emphatic penalty in the first half in Arlington, Texas, and Pedro Porro doubled their lead in the second half as France failed to muster a shot on target until late in the game.
Shell-shocked Les Bleus could not find a way back into the match despite their wealth of attacking riches on a bitterly disappointing day for the two-time winners.
Read moreFrance's World Cup dream extinguished in chastening semi-final loss to Spain
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France's World Cup dream is over, with Les Bleus reduced to little more than helpless witnesses to Spain's dazzling display.
Hats off to Spain, who were simply superb and too good for France.
Stay with us for more World Cup coverage, including live commentary of tomorrow's other semi-final, pitting England against Argentina.
Here's our match report
Mbappé: 'Not worthy of a semi-final'
The France captain is understandably not impressed with the team's performance.
“We weren't up to par technically... We didn't go after them... There was a lack of communication on the press, and technically, our first passes weren't worthy of a semi-final.
"Spain stayed true to their game plan... If we are honest, we did not have what it takes to go to the final."
France up against 'best team in the world'
Humility is not exactly the Spanish coach's defining trait, but he gets away with it given his team's display.
Here's what he said moments ago:
"We started almost four years ago with an idea and we’ve been faithful to that idea and it’s brought us here.
"Today we faced one of the best national teams in the world … but in front of them they had the best team in the world … that is different …
"These players deserve everything … day after day they’ve showed their commitment, their solidarity, their generosity, their talent … they make the difficult look easy."
Deschamps not happy with the referee
And here's Deschamps' first reaction after bowing out of his final World Cup as France coach.
“There’s a lot of disappointment. The players are devastated... We had high hopes. We fell short technically against a team that knew exactly what it was doing.
"Was the referee up to the task of officiating a World Cup semifinal? I’m asking the question, but I don’t want to answer it.
"Spain showed that they had something extra."
Pedro Porro named man of the match
Here's what he had to say after his masterclass on the pitch today:
"It's a dream come true... Truly it was my biggest dream... Very, very happy for the team... From the start to the end we played a great game, we did everything possible today to be able to go through.
"We knew we were facing a very, very tough team and we did everything so well... This is a team effort, it's not about me... I just want to say congratulations to everybody for producing such a great performance."
A crushing defeat for France's galaxy of stars
Well, it's been a quite a journey for Spain since they famously failed to beat Cape Verde in their opening match of the tournament.
That game now feels like a distant memory.
They were absolutely magnificent today, completely taming France's galaxy of forwards.
None of the French stars performed for Les Bleus, and Olise was even taken off early in the second half.
It's hard to tell whether it was more a case of them failing to show up, or Spain simply not letting them, but either way it was comprehensive defeat for a team almost all pundits had touted as the clearest World Cup favourites in decades.
Spain reach first final since 2010 triumph
And that's that.
Mikel Oyarzabal scored from the penalty spot after some heady play by Lamine Yamal and Pedro Porro added another goal to see Spain through to their first World Cup final since winning in 2010.
It was a thoroughly deserved win for the Spaniards, who all but silenced the tournament favourites and their formidable attack.
- Welcome to our liveblog
- Tchouameni and Barcola back for France, Spain unchanged
- Mbappé ‘100%’ fit after Morocco knock
- Peeeep!
- Penalty for Spain!
- Oyarzabal opens the score for La Roja!
- Half-time! France 0-1 Spain
- We're off again!
- GOAL! Porro doubles Spain's lead!
- Lamine Yamal goal disallowed!
- Full time! France 0-2 Spain!
Full time! France 0-2 Spain!
Spain are in the World Cup final!
Seven minutes of added time
It's "Olé" at every Spanish touch now.
A penalty shout for Spain
Up the other end, Lamine Yamal races into the box and is barrelled over by Hernandez.
Softer penalties have been given before.
Mbappé fires high
A now-or-never moment for France, who win a free-kick on the edge of the box.
But Mbappé's shot is hopelessly high, summing up Les Bleus' hellish night so far.
France fast running out of time
Deschamps is ranting helplessly. Nothing has worked for his team tonight.
Simon gets ahead of Mbappé, again
The Spain keeper once again races out of the box to beat Mbappé to the ball.
The loose ball comes to Doué, who takes forever before aiming for the empty goal, but his soft shot is blocked by Simon.
Incredibly, it's France's first shot on target.
So much for the unstoppable attacking armada.
Time for Merino
Late-goal specialist Merino comes on, and so does Pedri.
Olmo and Ruiz come off.
