‘Hall of shame’: Twitter roasts France’s Dembélé for going missing in final

France winger Ousmane Dembélé has been slayed on social media for his poor performance as his team lost Sunday's dramatic World Cup final 4-2 on penalties against Argentina.

The final at Lusail Stadium in Lusail City, Qatar, which ended 2-2 after normal time and 3-3 after extra time, was one for the ages and hailed as perhaps the greatest ever.

In the frenetic action, though, Dembélé went missing and was substituted after 41 minutes, having conceded the 23rd-minute penalty for a trip on Angel Di Maria that Lionel Messi opened the scoring from. The 34-year-old Di Maria skinned 25-year-old Dembélé on the right, who then tripped the Juventus forward.

While Olivier Giroud - who scored four goals on the way to the final - also went off in the 41st minute, his withdrawal was seen as more a tactical decision by coach Dider Deschamps.

Posts on social media pointed to Dembélé's statistics, which included failing to win any of his five duels with opposing players, losing possession seven times and being dribbled past twice.

One Twitter user, Luis Mazariegos, a former Spanish football writer and producer of a show on US news channel PBS, wrote: "Dembélé can drop a masterclass or a hall of shame performance just as easily. I'm just glad he decided the WC final vs Messi was the time to do the latter."

However another user, @Dilrajx, felt Dembélé was being scapegoated by the French press where sports bible l'Equipe was particularly harsh, saying the player's performance was "unworthy" of the national team. 

"Was Dembélé really that bad though for the 40 minutes he played or was the entire French team bad?" @Dilrajx wrote.

"Also that penalty he gave away was soft [from the referee] - how can you blame him for that. French press playing blame game."

Television pundits did not go easier on the Barcelona winger. English channel ITV's world Cup panel were critical of Dembélé's error and performance.

Gary Neville said Dembélé was "played like a little boy" by Di Maria. Neville's former Manchester United teammate Roy Keane was more sympathetic, saying he thought the penalty was soft, but added "sometimes the defender has to be punished for being so silly".

Former Arsenal star Ian Wright said he thought the penalty was legitimate "because of the clumsiness, the challenge is pathetic".

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