By Michael Place
MOSCOW, July 13 (Xinhua) -- France forward Antoine Griezmann has hit back at Belgium goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois after he accused Les Bleus of winning their World Cup semifinal by playing "anti-football".
France withstood periods of Belgian dominance in Tuesday's match and went ahead via a Samuel Umtiti header in the second half. Didier Deschamps' side then defended resolutely to grind out a 1-0 victory and book a berth in Sunday's final against Croatia.
After the match several Belgium players - including Courtois and his Chelsea teammate Eden Hazard - criticized France's approach to the match.
"It's just an anti-football team," Courtois said. "Their striker plays 30 metres from his own goal. France heads a corner and does nothing more than defend. I would have preferred to have lost in the quarter-finals to Brazil, at least that was a team that wanted to play football."
In a press conference on Friday, Griezmann said: "Does Thibaut Courtois think that at Chelsea he plays Barcelona football? I don't care how we win. I want a second star to be on this shirt. That is all."
