Arsenal star William Saliba left behind by France bus after anti-doping blunder

26 June 2024 , 05:35

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William Saliba was left behind by France's team bus after their 1-1 draw with Poland (Image: 2024 UEFA)

The French team bus was forced to leave Arsenal defender William Saliba behind in Dortmund as he waited for the all-clear from anti-doping testers.

The colossal centre-back, who played the full 90 minutes as Poland held Les Bleus to a 1-1 draw at Signal Iduna Park, was held back after the contest to provide blood and urine samples.

However, L'Equipe are reporting that France's bus had to leave around 9pm and Saliba did not emerge from the grounds of the stadium until around 10:30pm after completing the tests and leaving in a black van. He was accompanied by members of France's technical staff and later joined his team-mates at their Bad Lippspringe base camp.

Crucially, France boss Didier Deschamps is now allowing his players to spend some time with their families ahead of the knockout stages.

It's understood the families were due to reunite with the players on Tuesday evening which makes the holdup all the more frustrating for the 23-year-old.

Deschamps said: “The family break will really do some good. Spending time with them during this competition is important. And then we will move on to the round of 16. It will be good for morale."

France, who finished second in Group D after Austria claimed top spot, took the lead against Poland when Kylian Mbappe fired home from the penalty spot.

Yet Robert Lewandowski would later equalise from 12-yards despite initially seeing a penalty of his own saved by Mike Maignan. Lewandowski stuttered and Maignan was ruled to have left his line, prompting a retake which the Barcelona striker duly dispatched.

Kylian Mbappe netted from the penalty spot for France (Getty Images)

Deschamps added on his side's shortcomings: "I'm not disappointed at all. Of course we wanted first place but [Lukasz Skorupski] was excellent, he saved them. You have to give credit to the goalkeeper.

"You can score two goals from two chances, but you can also have seven chances, like we did today, and not score. I would be more worried if we didn't create any chances. We are where we want to be. We were in a very difficult group: Austria lost against us and won against the Netherlands. We deserve to be second, it's a new competition in the last 16."

France will now face the runners-up from Group E in the last 16. Belgium, Ukraine, Romania and Slovakia are all currently tied on three points after two matches.

Ryan Taylor