France was let down but proud of their comeback in the thrilling World Cup final.

Raphael Varane and Hugo Lloris, players for France, stated they were sad they were unable to successfully defend their World Cup crown after falling to Argentina on penalties in Sunday’s championship match, but they depart Qatar with their heads held high for having fought to the last end.

Through Kylian Mbappe, France came back twice. He erased Argentina’s 2-0 lead in regular time and added a third in extra time to tie the score at 3-3.

But on penalties, the South Americans prevailed 4-2.

“We are very disappointed of course, we gave everything. We had to face a lot of obstacles during the competition, we gave up nothing,” Varane said.

“For an hour we were not in the game. We could have won too. I’m very proud of this group and of being French. We keep our heads high. We came back in this game when it was complicated.

“We pushed and we believed until the end. We almost turned the game around, which was not going well… There was mental strength in this group, a lot of heart. That allowed us to come back in this game. We’re disappointed but also proud.”

Mbappe scored goals in the 80th and 81st minutes to tie the game, which France captain Lloris referred to as a “boxing match” after Argentina, who played better in the first half, had a 2-0 halftime lead.

“The Argentines got off to a great start, being aggressive, using all facets of the game. We were a bit reactionary all night,” the goalkeeper said.

Lloris refused to exploit the fact that numerous French players had missed training sessions over the previous week due to illness as an excuse going into the final.

“We’re not going to make excuses, we gave everything,” he added. “You have to congratulate the guys because we didn’t give up until the end.”

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