Mbappe refuses to shake hands, a flustered Gill throws the ball at the France striker
Kylian Mbappe’s winning penalty sent France into the quarter-finals of the World Cup on Sunday, July 5, but the final whistle brought with it an ugly point behind Paraguay goalkeeper Orlando Gill.
Moments after France secured a hard-fought 1-0 win in the round of 16, Gill walked up to Mbappe to congratulate him with a handshake. The France captain, still celebrating, appeared to ignore the gesture and slotted past the Paraguayan goalkeeper.
Gill, frustrated by the insult, threw a match point at Mbappe’s back before walking off. Mbappe did not react to the incident and continued to celebrate France’s progress, ensuring the confrontation did not escalate further.
The incident quickly attracted attention after a fiercely contested encounter in which Paraguay struggled to unsettle the two-time world champions for 90 minutes.
FIFA WORLD CUP: FRANCE EKE HARD WIN
France knew they were unlikely to enjoy a straightforward evening against the South Americans, who defended deep, disrupted the rhythm of play with frequent fouls and struggled to drag Didier Deschamps’ side into a physical battle in steamy conditions.
Mbappe eventually leveled the game in the 70th minute when he calmly converted a penalty after Desire Doue forced Diego Gomez into a clumsy challenge with a run into the box. The referee initially waved play on before awarding a free kick following a VAR review.
Mbappe’s goal was the seventh of the tournament and the 19th of his World Cup career, moving him level with Lionel Messi in the race for the Golden Boot and moving one goal short of the Argentine’s all-time World Cup record.
“It wasn’t easy. They used every trick in the book,” France coach Didier Deschamps said after the match.
“It’s not the kind of football that brings people to the stadium, but they defended well. It’s always difficult against these South American teams.”
Mbappe echoed his coach’s assessment, insisting that was exactly the kind of competition France expected.
“We knew what kind of game we were going to have,” Mbappe said.
“If we have to get our hands dirty, we can do it. We can play ugly football. They thought we’d show up in tuxedos, but we were there. We were better than them in that game too. That’s their football – there’s no right or wrong way to play the game. They tried to get us like that, but we won.”
Paraguay, who stunned Germany on penalties in the previous round, again defended resolutely and restricted France’s attacking stars for long spells. Gill made some excellent saves himself to deny Mbappe late in normal time and twice again in stoppage time to keep the scoreline respectable.
“I believe we could have done without the penalties,” Gill said after the game.
“We managed the first half very well, we avoided all passes. There was an unfortunate penalty, but that’s how football is.”
GILL APOLOGIZES TO MABPEM
Gill also dealt with the post-match altercation with Mbappe and admitted frustration got the better of him briefly.
“I put my hand out to congratulate him but he didn’t pay me any attention as if I wasn’t there,” the goalkeeper said.
“Of course I got a moment of anger and emotion, but that’s all, nothing else happened. After that I calmed down and all I wanted to do was congratulate him.”
France will now face Morocco in the quarter-finals, while Paraguay bow out after one of their best World Cup campaigns in recent history.
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Issued by:
Kingshuk Kusari
Published on:
05 Jul 2026 08:43 IST