England players 'blamed' for illness of two France stars ahead of WC final

French coaching and fitness staff are blaming England's World Cup stars for giving Adrien Rabiot and Dayot Upamecano a cold that could rule them out of the final.

Both stars were forced to miss France's 2-0 victory over Morocco in the World Cup semi-final. With only three nights to go until the final against Argentina, the race for recovery is certainly on for the Juventus and Bayern Munich stars.

Aside from the 1-0 defeat to Tunisia when Didier Deschamps ran the changes, Upamecano and Rabiot had started every match for the reigning champions. However, various reports from France claim they may have caught their colds off some of Gareth Southgate's players during the 2-1 victory over the Three Lions.

According to beIN Sports, several members of Deschamps' backroom team are blaming the England team for giving the pair their illnesses. There is no possible way to ascertain for certain where the French duo would have contracted their illness.

However, further reports from La Provence understand the England camp asked members of the media in the mixed zone to wear masks in the build-up to their quarter-final clash. But on the other hand, French outlet L'Equipe believe the enormous air conditioning systems within the Qatar stadiums may have also made some of the players feel under the weather.

They are not the first to allege this, as Manchester United and Brazil winger Antony also complained about the air-con systems for causing his illness during the competition.

Do you think Adrien Rabiot and Dayot Upamecano caught their illnesses off the England team? Let us know in the comments section below

"It was a bit difficult,” Antony said to fellow Manchester United star Casemiro on his Twitch stream. “I ended up having a bad feeling there for a few days which complicated me a bit.

"I'm recovering well and getting 100 percent. It was more of a sickness, throat. It was the air conditioning.

"Not only me, but other players also had a cough and a bad throat. It's very difficult for me to get sick, but I'm happy to be an important part of the team.”