Ousmane Dembele and Olivier Giroud handed ultimate humiliation by L'Equipe with World Cup final 'rating'

France duo Ousmane Dembele and Olivier Giroud have been slammed by popular publication L'Equipe after a dismal showing in Sunday's World Cup final.

The duo started alongside Kylian Mbappe as part of an attacking three against Argentina at Lusail Stadium, dropping the worst performances of their international careers.

Dembele gave away the penalty, which Lionel Messi opened the scoring from after cynically shoving Angel Di Maria to the ground.

Giroud was anonymous up front, failing to test their centre-back partnership of Nicolas Otamendi and Cristian Romero despite his clear height advantage.

Not long after Di Maria put Argentina 2-0 ahead, France manager Didier Deschamps had seen enough.

He decided to haul Dembele and Giroud off on football's grandest stage after 41 minutes. Randal Kolo Muani and Marcus Thuram took their places, faring much better once France woke up in the second half.

L'Equipe is known for having high standards, so it's no surprise they brutalised Dembele and Giroud in their post-match ratings.

Neither actually received a number, though it is worth noting that they do not offer ratings for players who fail to complete 45 minutes of matches.

The newspaper called Barcelona winger Dembele's performance '40 minutes unworthy of a World Cup final'. Ouch.

Meanwhile, it noted that AC Milan forward Giroud: 'did not see the light of day.'

Alamy)

Antoine Griezmann and Theo Hernandez were both given threes, the lowest numbered rating on either side.

Griezmann had been one of the tournament's standout performers in an unfamiliar central midfield position, while Hernandez scored in the semi-final victory over Morocco.

Neither carried that form to the Argentina game, with Griezmann substituted in the second half.

France did end up mounting a comeback against the run of play thanks to their refreshed attack. Kolo Muani won a penalty after being brought down by Otamendi, coolly converted by Mbappe.

One minute later, Thuram put the ball into the Paris Saint-Germain superstar's path before he unleashed a volley too hot for Emiliano Martinez to handle.

Alamy)

It took the game to extra time, where Argentina went 3-2 up through Messi's second of the game. That wasn't the end of the drama.

Gonzalo Montiel blocked Mbappe's long-range effort with his arm in the 118th minute, with referee Szymon Marciniak pointing to the penalty spot for the third time in the game.

Mbappe became the first man to score a World Cup hat-trick since Geoff Hurst in 1966 after dispatching with ease. At just 23 years old, he has 12 World Cup goals. Feels incredibly harsh that L'Equipe still only gave him a 9/10.

Argentina would end up winning the shootout after misses from Kingsley Coman and Aurelien Tchouameni.