Didier Deschamps, the France national team manager, criticised the refereeing after his side were knocked out of the World Cup following a 2-0 defeat to Spain in the semi-finals.
Deschamps told French channels beIN Sports and M6: "Our players are certainly disappointed, but we acknowledge that we were technically inferior and made mistakes."
The French coach went on to ask: "But was the referee up to the level required to manage a World Cup semi-final? I won't answer that question given a number of decisions that went against us."
He added: "But the main reason for the defeat is that we were below the required level, we made technical errors, and there were passes that could have led to chances."
The Les Bleus manager noted that "losing at the advanced stages of major tournaments is painful, and now we must focus on the third-place match. I don't want to diminish what we achieved, but in this game Spain were better and put in a distinguished performance."
He continued: "I'm not thinking about myself. We prepared for the match and our goal was to give everything possible to reach the final, but luck was not on our side and we feel a great sense of disappointment."
Deschamps concluded his remarks by saying: "We lacked technical precision and energy. The Spanish team is exceptional at frustrating attacks through anticipation, passing and possession, and we had hoped to create more attacking problems for them."