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ANTOINE GRIEZMANN fired a warning to France’s World Cup rivals after he masterminded a victory for mind over muscle.
The Atletico Madrid star made one and scored another against cynical Uruguay, with the help of a goalkeeping howler of Loris Karius proportions by Fernando Muslera.
That was enough to send the 1998 winners into their first World Cup semifinal since 2006 – and send a Uruguay team who resorted to kicking lumps out of them crashing out.
And Griezmann said no one will want to face Les Bleus after watching them dominate a defence which had conceded only once before in the tournament.
He said: “We have a team that can hurt any defence. When we focus on our style, we have greater chances to win.
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“We observe what happens in a match and we have people who can manage the game. When I have the ball, I try to take the game to where we want it to be.
“Uruguay are a tough team, they remind me of Atletico. We knew we didn’t have to accept their style and tried to take the game where it needed to go.”
France have never lost a game in which Griezmann has scored, a record stretching back 20 matches. He has also now bagged seven goals in his last six tournament knockout games.
He created the opener with a cute little stutter-step free-kick which fooled Uruguay and allowed Raphael Varane to score with a glancing header.
But it wasn’t over until calamity keeper Muslera allowed Griezmann’s 25-yard shot to squirm through his fingers in the 61st minute.
France were also indebted to an outstanding save from Hugo Lloris, who tipped away a goal-bound header from Martin Caceres.
But they were the only team trying to play football and did well to keep their cool under some deliberate South American provocation.
The only blot on their copybook was an outrageous piece of play-acting from Kylian Mbappe, who went down as if shot under the slightest contact from Cristian Rodriguez.
That sparked an almighty melee, with pushing and shoving on both sides, and Mbappe was rightly booked for a piece of simulation his Paris St-Germain team-mate Neymar would have been proud of.
France coach Didier Deschamps insisted his side are still improving, saying: “We weren’t perfect. We can always play better and improve things.
“I tell my players to always give their all. I was like that when I played and that is not going to change.
“If they are going to progress, you have to be like that and that’s what they did.
“We controlled situations better today and we have the right attitude. We are not giving chances away like we did previously.”
Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez refused to pin the blame on Muslera, saying: “He is our goalkeeper. It was not a common goal but he has been a very important part of the process.
“I am not going to put blame on my players. Only those who didn’t do anything make mistakes.
“I have told my players they can be proud and keep their heads high.”