Kylian Mbappe scored a second-half penalty to send France into the World Cup quarter-finals, but the 1-0 win over Paraguay in Philadelphia was marred by a heated confrontation at full-time that prompted manager Didier Deschamps to order back-up to protect his star striker.
Mbappe’s spot-kick proved the difference in a tempestuous affair, with Paraguay resorting to combative fouling throughout the 90 minutes — yet somehow avoiding a single yellow card. The game threatened to boil over on multiple occasions before La Albirroja’s frustration finally erupted after the final whistle, as players expressed anger towards the match officials and clashed with France’s stars. Gustavo Velazquez had to be separated from William Saliba.
“France beat Paraguay 1-0 as tempers boil over; Deschamps protects Mbappe after full-time clashes.”
Deschamps, concerned that Mbappe could face a vicious response given the attention he had endured during the match, immediately sent reinforcements. “Kylian, I remember that in 2018 against Uruguay I had to take him off because they were going to take him down,” Deschamps said. “So I asked the two strongest players on the bench to go and protect him immediately at the end because you never know, the match is never over, I don’t want to lose any players.”
Mbappe himself had anticipated such treatment. “We knew what kind of match we were going to have,” he said. “If we have to get our hands dirty, we know how to do it. We know how to play dirty football. They thought we were going to come and play in tuxedos, but we were there. Even in that game, we were better than them. That’s their football; there’s no right or wrong way to play football. They tried to get us that way, but we won.”
Rayan Cherki echoed that sentiment, suggesting France were able to “wage war” when necessary. Having kept himself in check during the match — other than laughing at the opposition — Mbappe blanked Paraguay goalkeeper Orlando Gill after scoring and celebrated by roaring “Vamos!” to the crowd.
France now face Morocco in the quarter-finals, a prospect that will test their ability to handle physical opposition once more.