France v Belgium, 10 July 2018

Kick-off: 9.00pm local France v Belgium was Match 61 of the FIFA World Cup 2018 Referee: Andrés Cunha (Uruguay) Assistant Referee 1: Nicolas Taran (Uruguay) Assistant Referee 2: Mauricio Espinosa (Uruguay) Fourth Official: César Ramos (Mexico) Fifth Official: Marvin Torrentera (Mexico) VAR: Massimiliano Irrati (Italy) This was France's sixth World Cup semi-final. Les Bleus lost the first three (1958, 1982 and 1986) but had now reached the final in the next three (also 1998 and 2006, so three of the last six World Cups). This was Belgium’s second World Cup semi-final. They lost to eventual winners Argentina in 1986. France had now lost one of their last 14 games in the knock-out rounds of the World Cup, excluding penalty shoot-outs (won 11). This was Belgium's first defeat in their last 25 games since September 2016 (won 19). Didier Deschamps became the first manager to lead France to two finals in major tournaments (also Euro 2016). Four of France's last six goals in World Cup semi-finals had now been scored by recognised defenders; also Marius Trésor in 1982 and Lilian Thuram (two) in 1998.