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France suffer huge blow as Arsenal's Saliba limps out of Spain semi-final
Jul 14 2026 20:49 · By Nathan Ridley,Senior Sports Reporter · 18 Reads
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France were forced to make an early change while 1-0 down in their
World Cup
semi-final against
Spain
after
William Saliba
suffered an injury.
Arsenal
defender Saliba went down in the 29th minute and pointed to his back, where he's had problems in recent years.
The 25-year-old couldn't continue and was replaced by
Crystal Palace's
Maxence Lacroix. Saliba's injury saw France's night go from bad to worse.
Spain took the lead on 22 minutes after
Lucas Digne
fouled
Lamine Yamal
and gave away a penalty.
Mikel Oyarzabal made no mistake from the spot
, despite Mike Maignan going the right way.
It marked the first time that
France
had gone behind at this World Cup. But Arsenal players picking up an injury in North America is nothing new.
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Declan Rice
has had a multitude of problems for England while team-mate
Bukayo Saka's
fitness remains a concern. Saliba will undergo tests and it remains to be seen whether he'll feature in France's next game, either the final or the third-place play-off.
It was reported ahead of the World Cup that the Frenchman was considering surgery to treat his back issue. Saliba notably missed Arsenal's last 15 games in the 2022-23 season with a back injury.
His latest setback could force the Gunners into the transfer market. Arsenal have recently been linked with
West Ham
centre-back Dinos Mavropanos, who they sold in a deal worth up to £5million in 2022.
Should Arsenal sign a new centre-back? Have your say in the
comments section
.
Co-chairman Josh Kroenke confirmed after winning the
Premier League
title that Arsenal won't stand still and attack the transfer market like any other year. "When you win something, the sun's still going to come up the next day," Kroenke explained.
"You've got to get back to work and there are many teams trying to gain on you, including some historically great ones around the Premier League. We're going to look to strengthen because we know teams around us are going to get better. If you're not trying to continually evolve and improve, you're standing still."