France head coach Didier Deschamps said that it was not the time to discuss his future with the national side when questioned immediately after Tuesday's Euro 2024 semi-final with Spain.
Randal Kolo Muani headed France into a ninth-minute lead in the final-four contest, but Spain were able to turn it around courtesy of goals from Lamine Yamal and Dani Olmo.
Spain have advanced to the final, where they will meet either England or Netherlands, but France have now played their final match at this summer's European Championship.
Deschamps has a contract with France until July 2026, but there have been claims that the 55-year-old leave his role with the national side following the semi-final loss.
The former midfielder was not prepared to discuss a possible departure in the immediate aftermath of the Spain loss, though, insisting that it was not the right time to comment on his future.
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France struggled to impress at Euro 2024
"I've just lost a semi-final," Deschamps responded when asked whether he would be remaining in charge of the national side. "You know how my president thinks. Maybe you shouldn't have even asked this question."
Deschamps admitted that Spain "mastered the game" on Tuesday, and the France boss bemoaned missed chances, with Kylian Mbappe passing up an opportunity to level the scores in the latter stages.
"We were able to open the scoring, which was great. Spain mastered the game better than us, though. We didn't perform that well, we didn't play as vertically as I wanted. We pushed all the way to the end," the national team head coach added on Tuesday night.
"You need to be as relaxed as possible and hit the target. This is what we've been missing. Nevertheless, we made it to the semi-final and found a way to score, thanks to Kolo [Muani]. It would have been better if we'd been as efficient as we had been before."
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Deschamps hints at France stay
However, Deschamps did hint that he would be remaining in charge of France, with the long-serving head coach already looking ahead to the future.
"We have a lot of young players in our squad, which will help us for the future," he added.
Deschamps has been France boss since 2012, leading the national team to glory at the 2018 World Cup before making the final of the 2022 competition, losing on penalties to Argentina.
The Blues have also won the UEFA Nations League under Deschamps, in addition to making the final of Euro 2016, but they were knocked out in the last-16 stage of Euro 2020, and this tournament will go down a disappointment despite managing to navigate their way to the final four.
France only won one of their three group fixtures at Euro 2024 and then recorded a 1-0 victory over Belgium in the round of 16 before beating Portugal on penalties in the quarter-finals.
Matt Law
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