Kylian Mbappe scored a Seventieth-minute penalty for the striker’s seventh aim of the World Cup 2026 as France beat Paraguay in a fractious last-16 tie in Philadelphia to arrange a quarter-final in opposition to Morocco.
Actual Madrid ahead Mbappe transformed coolly from the spot together with his nation’s one hundred and fiftieth World Cup aim after Diego Gomez was accurately adjudged to have introduced down substitute Need Doue following a Video Assistant Referee assessment.
Paraguay, who knocked out Germany on penalties of their first knockout-stage match of the finals, repeatedly escaped punishment from referee Ilgiz Tantashev for a succession of cynical-looking fouls, together with a transparent kick by Juan Jose Caceres on Mbappe after the aim.
Kylian Mbappé takes his World Cup tally to SEVEN equalling Lionel Messi 🔝
With that, he scores France’s one hundred and fiftieth ever World Cup aim 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/i4Uvg6Ed8o
— ITV Soccer (@itvfootball) July 4, 2026
For all their obvious gamesmanship, La Albirroja carried out admirably to limit their vaunted opponents to treasured few openings in the course of the first half, though Manu Kone compelled goalkeeper Orlando Gill to push his long-range effort behind in a fantastic save shortly after half-time.
Gill’s glorious double save prevented Mbappe from firing in one other throughout 10 minutes of added time, ending in a melee between each squads close to the centre circle and justifiably exuberant celebrations for the victors.
France vs Paraguay: Bleus earn bruising World Cup win
Adopting an attritional strategy in opposition to opponents who had collected 4 previous wins and 13 targets, Paraguay someway escaped any bookings whereas producing “each single darkish artwork you should use,” in line with former Scotland worldwide Pat Nevin.
“Paraguay are attempting to wind up the France gamers,” Nevin informed BBC Sport, whereas former England goalkeeper Joe Hart referred to as the South American facet a “shame” and the shortage of disciplinary motion in opposition to them “astonishing”.
Tempers boiled over after the full-time whistle on the finish of a tense recreation between France and Paraguay 😬 pic.twitter.com/4y9IxYzGEn
— ITV Soccer (@itvfootball) July 4, 2026
The ploy nearly labored, though Paraguay head coach Gustavo Alfaro’s gesturing that Doue had dived for the penalty was fanciful.
Regardless of the character of their exit, Paraguay will take pleasure of their three-match unbeaten run after a 4-1 opening defeat to a formidable USA facet, beating Turkiye and drawing with Australia earlier than ousting four-time champions Die Mannschaft.
France tackle the Atlas Lions, who beat Canada 3-0 earlier on Saturday, in Boston on Thursday (21:00 BST).
Kylian Mbappe vs Lionel Messi: World Cup high scorer standings
Right here’s how the golden boot race takes care of Saturday’s motion. Mbappe is forward of Messi as a result of the 27-year-old has extra assists.
| Participant | Nation | Targets | Assists |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kylian Mbappe | France | 7 | 2 |
| Lionel Messi | Argentina | 7 | 0 |
| Erling Haaland | Norway | 5 | 0 |
| Harry Kane | England | 5 | 0 |
| Ousmane Dembele | France | 4 | 2 |
| Vinicius Junior | Brazil | 4 | 1 |
| Mikel Oyarzabal | Spain | 4 | 1 |
| Ismaila Sarr | Senegal | 4 | 1 |
World Cup 2026: Paraguay staff vs France
Gomez returned from suspension as one among three new faces in Paraguay’s line-up alongside Gustavo Velazquez and Omar Alderete.
Jose Canale, Damian Bobadilla and Gabriel Avalos moved to the bench.
Paraguay beginning XI: Orlando Gill, Gustavo Velazquez, Omar Alderete, Juan Jose Caceres, Junior Alonso, Gustavo Gomez, Diego Gomez, Miguel Almiron, Andres Cubas, Matias Galarza, Julio Enciso
Paraguay substitutes: Gatito Fernandez, Gaston Olveira, Fabian Balbuena, Jose Canale, Alexandro Maidana, Ramon Sosa, Mauricio, Damian Bobadilla, Braian Ojeda, Gustavo Caballero, Antonio Sanabria, Alejandro Romero Gamarra, Alex Arce, Gabriel Avalos, Isidro Pitta
World Cup 2026: France staff vs Paraguay
Kone changed Aurelien Tchouameni, who had a groin challenge, in France’s one change from their dismantling of Sweden within the final 32.
France beginning XI: Mike Maignan, Lucas Digne, Dayot Upamecano, Jules Kounde, William Saliba, Manu Kone, Adrien Rabiot, Ousmane Dembele, Kylian Mbappe, Michael Olise, Bradley Barcola
France substitutes: Brice Samba, Robin Risser, Malo Gusto, Ibrahima Konate, Theo Hernandez, Lucas Hernandez, Maxence Lacroix, Aurelien Tchouameni, Ngolo Kante, Warren Zaire-Emery, Rayan Cherki, Maghnes Akliouche, Marcus Thuram, Need Doue, Jean-Philippe Mateta
World Cup 2026: Paraguay vs France stats
- France have received 16 of their 19 World Cup matches for the reason that begin of the 2018 match
- Didier Deschamps has recorded 19 World Cup victories as a supervisor, which is essentially the most in match historical past
- Now 57, Deschamps was captain when France beat Paraguay within the final 16 on their option to glory on residence soil on the 1998 finals, profitable 1-0 by way of a 113th-minute Laurent Blanc aim
- Paraguay had solely progressed from a World Cup knockout tie as soon as beforehand, profitable 5-3 on penalties in opposition to Japan within the 2010 final 16
- La Albirroja haven’t crushed France in six makes an attempt (D2 L4), shedding each such matches on the World Cup
- They haven’t scored greater than as soon as in any of their final 9 matches on the World Cup
- With 33 targets in 32 World Cup matches, Paraguay have the bottom common of any nation to have performed at the very least 30 matches on the finals aside from South Korea (41 in 41).
- Julio Enciso’s opener in opposition to Germany was Paraguay’s first-ever aim within the knockout stage of the finals, having failed to attain of their 5 earlier such ties
- Michael Olise has 5 assists on the finals for France and is one away from matching Pele’s World Cup document of six at a single match
