Proud head coach Didier Deschamps hails resilient France as they reach World Cup quarterfinals

Kylian Mbappe scored the only goal of the game at the Philadelphia Stadium from the penalty spot on 70 minutes.

Diego Gomez upended Desire Doue and referee Ilgiz Tantashev awarded the spotkick after a VAR review.

Paraguay have been critised for their display of the 'dark arts' as they played with aggression in what descended into a bad-tempered in punishing Philadelphia heat.

France though kept their cool and deservedly secured a last eight clash with Morocco.

Deschamps told French broadcaster M6: "It wasn't easy. They used every resource possible. It is maybe not the kind of football that brings people to the stadium, playing with that aggression, exaggerating everything.

France came in to the game with 13 goals but struggled to create clear-cut chances despite seeing much of the ball.

"We stayed focused on our game. It was difficult, they had lots of men behind the ball and they defend well," added Deschamps.

"Obviously the temperatures made it hard to play with intensity and without that they defended well."

"I am not going to criticise the referee but we finished the game with three bookings and yet there were a lot of things going on," Deschamps said in his post-match press conference, as he suggested he and his team were subjected to verbal aggression too," said the experienced coach.

"I won't criticise Paraguay. Every team can play however they want, but I could do without the insults.

âœThe most important thing is that there were no incidents at the end. But all that matters is that we have qualified.â

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