Deschamps sends bench to shield Mbappe as France edge past feisty Paraguay

France survived a combative encounter with Paraguay to advance to the World Cup quarter-finals, winning 1-0 in Philadelphia, but the final whistle sparked a flashpoint that forced Didier Deschamps to act quickly to protect Kylian Mbappe.

Mbappe scored the only goal from the penalty spot, but he was the primary target of Paraguay’s physical approach throughout the 90 minutes. Despite repeated fouls, La Albirroja escaped without a yellow card — and their frustration boiled over at full-time, with players confronting several France stars and directing their anger at the match officials. Gustavo Velazquez had to be separated from William Saliba amid the chaos.

Deschamps, alert to the danger, immediately sent his two most physically imposing substitutes onto the pitch to stand alongside Mbappe. The France manager drew on a painful precedent to explain his thinking. “Kylian, I remember that in 2018 against Uruguay I had to take him off because they were going to take him down,” he 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, who roared “Vamos!” to the crowd after the final whistle, was unapologetic about the nature of the victory. “We knew what kind of match we were going to have,” the 27-year-old 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.”

Manchester City midfielder Rayan Cherki echoed that defiant tone, saying France had shown they could “wage war” when required. “We knew it was going to be a very intense match,” he said. “But it was important to us to play a game like this during this World Cup to remind everyone that the French team knows how” to compete in hostile conditions.

France will next face Morocco in the quarter-finals, having demonstrated they can grind out results when the football turns ugly — a quality Deschamps will hope they do not need to call upon quite so heavily in the rounds ahead.