Kylian Mbappé became the star of the France vs. Morocco World Cup quarter-final match, winning the Man of the Match award and scoring the first goal of the 2-0 victory in the second half, despite missing a penalty in the first half. Without taking merits from Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou, who plays in the Saudi Pro League (Al Hilal) and made many other incredible saves, Mbappé recognised he didn't shoot his best penalty, but has an excuse.
"I shot the penalty badly, but it was complicated. There was a mix-up with the referee. He told me it was a penalty, I got ready, but then he came back to tell me there wasn't a penalty. I losy my focus, I had never been in a situation like this", Mbappé explained in an interview after the match.
Indeed, the referee didn't allow Mbappé to take the shot after a few moments, when VAR was seemingly reviewing a potential foul in the build up of the penalty (which is standard procedure, as Collina revealed following the controversy with Egypt). Some are now questioning that Mbappé starts to "dive" before being hit by the Moroccan player: the contact is clear, but some believe Mbappé went too far with the exaggeration of the fall...
<social>https://x.com/garyalsmith/status/2075326914504401335</social>
In any case, Mbappé redeemed himself half an hour later and, with Dembélé scoring another six minutes later, France is now in World Cup semi-finals, extending an incredible knockout record...