France coach Didier Deschamps said his players were left “devastated” by their World Cup semi-final defeat to Spain on Tuesday before aiming a barb at match referee Ivan Barton from El Salvador.

Deschamps’s free-flowing French team had dazzled the competition en route to the last four, rattling in 16 goals in six games to earn comparisons to some of the greatest teams in World Cup history. But France’s dreams of a third World Cup title were left in tatters after a dominant Spanish performance that left Deschamps, who is stepping down after the tournament, struggling for answers.