2026 World Cup: Mbappé Follows in Messi’s Footsteps with a Disastrous Penalty Kick. Then He Lashes Out at the Argentine Referee

Kylian Mbappé missed a great opportunity to give France the lead in the 2026 World Cup quarterfinal between Les Bleus and Morocco. Deschamps’ team, which dominated the first half of the match, was awarded a penalty in the 25th minute after Mazraoui fouled Mbappé.

The Real Madrid star stepped up to take the penalty, but the VAR review—which was examining the sequence of events leading up to the foul—lasted more than three minutes, and Mbappé grew impatient. He then missed from the penalty spot, shooting weakly to the right: Morocco’s goalkeeper Bounou even saved the ball after guessing the direction correctly.

Shortly afterward, the cooling break began, and instead of heading toward the French bench, Mbappé complained loudly to Argentine referee Tello for making him wait so long.

Facundo Tello’s appointment had been the subject of controversy in the days leading up to the match: many had pointed out that, at this stage of the tournament, FIFA should avoid assigning referees from nations still in contention for the title. Argentina is, in fact, still in the World Cup, set to face Switzerland in the quarterfinals, and along with France, is the heavy favorite to reach the final. Deschamps, however, took a calm approach during the press conference: “We can’t do anything about the referee assignments, but we have no reason to doubt. I hope the referee is as good as Letexier was, but our opponent on the field will be Morocco, certainly not the referee.”