FIFA World Cup: Kylian Mbappe misses from penalty spot vs Morocco

3 min readUpdated: Jul 10, 2026 02:40 AM Kylian Mbappe scuffed a chance to pip Lionel Messi in the Golden Boot race after he missed a penalty against Morocco in the first quarterfinal on Thursday. In the 28th minute, France was awarded a penalty which Mbappe stepped in to take. His shot, however, was relatively tame as Morocco goalie Yassine Bounou guessed the right way and pulled off a save to keep it 0-0.
The goalkeeper was kept busy throughout the half as he saved a powerful low drive from Mbappe and as well as shots from Dayot Upamecano and Lucas Digne as both sides went into half time with the score at 0-0. If Mbappe had scored from the spot, he would have gone over Argentina legend Messi who has 8 goals, who incidentally has also missed two penalties in this World Cup. Mbappe would also be on 8 strikes but would have topped the charts because of his 2 asss as opposed to Messi’s 1
France beat Morocco in the semifinals at the 2022 tournament in Qatar when the Atlas Lions became the first African team to make it that far. France is looking to remain on track to become only the third nation to play in the final of three consecutive World Cups.

As much Morocco wants to pull an upset over the favored Les Bleus on Thursday, the team has plenty of ties to the opposing country. Six Moroccan players — Ayyoub Bouaddi (Senlis), Issa Diop (Toulouse), Neil El Aynaoui (Nancy), Redouane Halhal (Montpellier), Samir El Mourabet (Strausbourg) and Gessime Yassine (Salon-de-Provence) — were born on French soil.
In addition, out of the 26 players on Morocco’s squad for the World Cup, 19 were born outside that country.
Morocco coach Mohamed Ouahbi said it’s helped broaden the country’s World Cup support.
The links also extend to club play, with France captain Kylian Mbappé and midfielder Aurélien Tchouaméni both playing for Real Madrid alongside Morocco midfielder Brahim Diaz.
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Diaz, who has already played a big part in getting Morocco this far with a team-high four asss, said it’s added even more dimension to a matchup that also carries much weight.