France ended their participation in the World Cup group stage with a surprise loss to Tunisia at the Education City Stadium in Al Rayyan.
Didier Deschamps rested key players in preparation for the round of 16, knowing that a safe passage and first place were already assured.
He decided to make nine changes and that meant the champions were not at their best level of flow and Tunisia made the most of it, having the best exchanges for most of the game.
A brilliant solo goal from former Sunderland player Wahbi Khazri just before hour time was enough to give Tunisia a famous victory, with a last-gasp goal from Antoine Griezmann disallowed for offside.
Unfortunately for the Africans, the win was not enough to see them advance to the knockout stage, with Australia beating Denmark to steal second place.
The first half went to Tunisia, who came out of the traps strong but could not find the opening goal and had a goal disallowed for offside in the early exchanges.
The second half started the same way, with France unable to find any kind of rhythm before Tunisia’s opener and even the introduction of Kylian Mbappe, Griezmann, Ousmane Dembele and Adrien Rabiot was not enough to force a draw.
Manchester United central defender Raphael Varane was the team’s captain, but he looked a bit leggy in his first start in over a month.
Varane was tested throughout his 60 minutes on the pitch and was left red-faced when Khazri passed him with ease, before slipping the ball past Steve Mandanda to give Tunisia the lead.
However, he will be grateful for the minutes as he regains his fitness after an injury suffered at Stamford Bridge in October put his participation in the tournament in doubt.
United’s target Mbappé started the game on the bench, but was introduced shortly after the hour mark to try and salvage something of the game.
Unfortunately for the French, he was unable to add to his goal tally, but he is still in the hunt for the Golden Boot having netted three goals in his first two games.
United have been linked with a monster move for the PSG man, as they search for his replacement Cristiano Ronaldo.
France will face the Group C runners-up in the knockout phase, which could still be one of Poland, Argentina, Saudi Arabia or Mexico, with the decisive matches taking place tonight.
