I don't think I disrespected anyone – Deschamps responds to Leonardo over Mbappe criticism

France head coach Didier Deschamps responded to Leonardo after the Paris Saint-Germain sporting director's criticism over the handling of Kylian Mbappe's positive coronavirus test.

Mbappe was withdrawn from the France squad after testing positive for COVID-19, but Les Bleus were still too strong for Croatia 4-2 in the Nations League on Tuesday.

Leonardo was unhappy to hear about the PSG star's positive test through the media and felt the Ligue 1 champions had been disrespected.

But Deschamps dismissed any suggestions France had been disrespectful, saying they were rushed into releasing the confirmation.

"I will be factual. At the end of the training session, Kylian has a positive test. We deal with the most in a hurry by isolating him from the rest of the group," he told a news conference, via L'Equipe.

"At the same time, 10 tests are pending and are arriving in dribbles. We arranged for Kylian to be taken care of so he could go home.

"I would add that for all the players who test positive there is a need for confirmation from the laboratory, which takes time, because they re-analyse. We have this confirmation around 10pm. In the meantime, one of you has released the info.

"So that it does not go all over the place, we decided to issue a press release. That's what happened. We were in a hurry. There was little doubt, but we were supposed to wait for confirmation. I don't think I disrespected anyone."

Mbappe is set to miss PSG's opening Ligue 1 game of the 2020-21 season against Lens on Thursday.