Plays like an autistic: Jorge Sampaoli’s brutal criticism of Ousmane Dembele’s Euro 2024 performance

Former Argentina manager Jorge Sampaoli controversially branded winger Ousmane Dembele’s style of play as autistic while criticizing France’s Euro 2024 performance.

“When everything gets out of hand, the other players are like spectators watching how the action will end. They know that he plays like an autistic: he starts the action and finishes it alone. He doesn’t have the ability to make a teammate shine, he only knows how to shine himself. Mbappé is a bit the same,” the former Flamengo coach said in an interview to SoFoot as quoted by Marca.

He also criticized the 2018 World Cup winners’ playing style, saying, “France has an extraordinary team, but they need to run a lot and when the space is reduced they cannot find attacking channels , despite their enormous individual abilities. In the absence of passers and combined play, the team depends entirely on its solidity and a good performance from its attacking players. That is not my idea of ​​football.”

Dembele did not have a Euro to write home about with the former Barcelona winger failing to score in any of his starts and assisted just once when France was awarded a penalty after he was fouled in the box in the Group stage match against Poland.

It took France till the semifinal against Spain to finally score a goal from open play which tells you a lot about their attacking woes in the tournament. The Les Bleus were ultimately knocked out of the Euro after losing 2-1 to Spain in the aforementioned match as their wait for a first Euro trophy since 2000 continued.

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