"France played anti-football," Belgium goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois said following his side's defeat to France in Tuesday evening's World Cup semi-final.
After Belgium had the better in the better of the first half, France grabbed the upper hand early in the second when Samuel Umtiti headed home an Antoine Griezmann corner.
A tight and compact side then defended their lead, one they never really looked like conceding bar the odd Marouane Fellaini header that flashed past the post.
"It's their right to play like that, because they know we're having a difficult time dealing with it, but it is not nice to see," the Chelsea keeper is quoted as saying by Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad. "This team was no better than us."
The positioning of his Chelsea teammate, Olivier Giroud, particularly irked Courtois.
"Their striker plays 30 metres from his own goal," he added to Belgian TV station Sporza.
"France heads a corner and does nothing more than defend.
"I would have preferred to have lost in the quarter-finals to Brazil, at least that was a team that wanted to play football."
Neither was Eden Hazard enamoured with France's approach to the game.
"Would I want to win as a part of the France team? France are the winners, and as a player you want to win," he also told Sporza.
"But I prefer to lose for Belgium, rather than win for France. We play better football, in a style that suits me."
