Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois has apologised to France players after his swipe at their tactics following Belgium's World Cup semifinal defeat.

Courtois, in the aftermath of the loss, insisted France did not deserve the win.

But yesterday the Belgium international said, "I may have reacted a little too hard. I saw a lot of French comments. Hot, I had just lost a semi-final World Cup. The last 15 minutes, they were looking for small mistakes.

"We would have done the same thing in their situation. My words have exceeded me a little. In all sports, we always want to go higher and if it is not possible then we take (3rd place)."