Mbappe penalty seals France's scrappy 1-0 win over 'dirty' Paraguay at World Cup

Kylian Mbappe scored the only goal as France edged past Paraguay 1-0 in a ill-tempered World Cup last-16 tie, booking a quarter-final meeting with Morocco and moving to within one goal of Lionel Messi’s all-time World Cup scoring record.

The penalty, awarded after Diego Gomez brought down Desire Doue with 20 minutes remaining, was Mbappe’s seventh goal of the tournament. Referee Ilgiz Tantashev was directed to the pitchside monitor before pointing to the spot, though Paraguay surrounded him in protest and Gustavo Velazquez attempted to scuff the penalty spot before Mbappe stepped up and converted.

The match was defined as much by Paraguay’s physical approach as by France’s football. Andres Cubas hacked down Adrien Rabiot, Juan Jose Caseras kicked Mbappe, and Gabriel Avalos elbowed Dayot Upamecano in the stomach — yet no Paraguay player was booked. France, by contrast, had three players cautioned: Manu Kone, Michael Olise and Bradley Barcola. Tantashev drew widespread criticism for his handling of the contest.

The drama continued at full-time. Paraguay goalkeeper Orlando Gill threw the ball at Mbappe’s back, while Velazquez attempted to confront members of the France squad.

Mbappe was unsparing in his assessment afterwards. “If we have to get our hands dirty, we will do it,” he said. “We’ve shown we’re not just a team that knows how to play attacking football. We know how to play ugly football. They thought we’d show up in tuxedos, but we were ready. Even at that game, we were better than them. That’s their style of football — there’s no right or wrong way to play the game. They tried to beat us that way, but we won.”

France manager Didier Deschamps was more measured, though he acknowledged the tension. “There were some insults from the other bench we could have done without,” he said. Deschamps also revealed he had instructed his two tallest players to shadow Mbappe in the closing minutes. “I asked the two biggest lads to go and stand around Kylian at the end because they were going to chop him down. It wasn’t easy. They use every trick in the book.”

Rayan Cherki reflected on the value of surviving such a test. “We knew it was going to be a fiercely contested match. But it was important to us to play a game like this during the World Cup — to remind everyone that the French team can play beautiful football, but can also go to war.”

William Saliba added that France had prepared psychologically for Paraguay’s approach, suggesting the squad were not caught off guard by the hostility they encountered.