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World Cup 2018: France stars mock Kylian Mbappe for falling asleep during flight to St Petersburg ahead of Belgium semi-final

Ben Mendy, Paul Pogba and Antoine Griezmann had a laugh at striker's expense ahead of Tuesday night's showdown

FRANCE stars mocked Kylian Mbappe for falling asleep on the plane as flew to St Petersburg for their World Cup semi-final showdown against Belgium.

Manchester City defender Ben Mendy posted a picture of the striker dozing, captioned: "Too much Razmokets (Rugrats)"

Antoine Griezmann made a 'loser' gesture as he, Paul Pogba and Mendy surround Mbappe.

France's squad looked in good spirits during their flight to St Petersburg from Nizhny Novgorod, where they beat Uruguay in the quarter-final.

They were also seen laughing around in training on Sunday.

Tomorrow night they face Belgium in the semi hoping to book their place in the final.

 France manager Didier Deschamps has his players relaxed ahead of tomorrow's semi-final against Belgium
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France manager Didier Deschamps has his players relaxed ahead of tomorrow's semi-final against BelgiumCredit: Reuters

France, who were beaten in the Euro 2016 final by Portugal, are favourites to win the tournament.

But skipper Hugo Lloris insists Belgium are the ones to watch after beating Brazil.

He said: "I don’t think so. A nation like Brazil with all its talent and history has to be the favourites and if Belgium beat them then that fact will make them favourites."

Loyalties will be tested when the two nations meet, with Les Bleus legend Thierry Henry working as a coach for Belgium boss Roberto Martinez.


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Eden Hazard will also have a point to prove for the Red Devils after an image emerged of him wearing a France shirt.

The Chelsea winger, 27, grew up in a French-speaking part of Belgium and moved to Lille when he was 14.

 Eden Hazard, right, supported France as a kid and wore the 98 jersey with his brothers Thorgan, middle, and Kylian, left
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Eden Hazard, right, supported France as a kid and wore the 98 jersey with his brothers Thorgan, middle, and Kylian, leftCredit: Twitter
 France legend Thierry Henry is teaching Belgium how to down his home nation
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France legend Thierry Henry is teaching Belgium how to down his home nationCredit: AFP or licensors

He said: "With my brothers, we have always been more supporters of France than Belgium because we grew up with ‘98.

“At the time, there wasn’t the jersey of Belgium, that's why we wore the one of France.

“I do not want to denigrate the Belgium team of the time, there were very good players, but at that time, it was France.”

Belgium train ahead of their semi-final World Cup match against France
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