Mbappe misses penalty after three-minute wait as France draw level with Morocco

Kylian Mbappe missed a penalty after an agonising three-minute-and-ten-second delay in France’s World Cup quarter-final against Morocco in Boston, then confronted the referee at the first hydration break to vent his frustration.

Mbappe had won the spot-kick when Manchester United defender Noussair Mazraoui fouled him, but a lengthy VAR check — despite the foul appearing clear-cut — forced the Real Madrid forward back to the spot on more than one occasion before he could take the kick. When he finally stepped up, his effort was tame and straight at goalkeeper Yassine Bounou.

ITV commentator Ally McCoist was unsympathetic toward Mbappe’s complaints. “You might be far from happy but don’t do this, run up with a stutter and then hit it softly right to the keeper,” McCoist said. “Run up with a bit of purpose. There’s no power in it, no aggression, no belief, which is incredible for a man of that talent.”

Former Chelsea and Scotland winger Pat Nevin acknowledged that the VAR process had a legitimate basis — officials needed to check two possible free-kicks in the build-up — but was critical of both the delay and the execution. “Kylian Mbappe knew what he was doing, but then he started his reset and then there was another waste of time and he didn’t reset it,” Nevin said. “You need to check the two possible free-kicks, but it shouldn’t take that long. It was a stinker of a penalty. It was awful.”