While also missing his first World Cup penalty against Morocco, Kylian Mbappe also wrote unwanted history in France national team, joining Karim Benzema. Kylian Mbappe had the chance to put France ahead against Morocco in the 2026 World Cup quarterfinals from the penalty spot, but a sharp save from Yassine Bounou denied him. In missing his first career World Cup penalty, Mbappe has joined Karim Benzema in an unwanted piece of French football history.
A sharp recovery from Desire Doue sparked a lethal French counterattack, with Michael Olise slipping a through ball into the path of Mbappe to exploit the space in behind. Already inside the box, the Real Madrid forward was brought down by Noussair Mazraoui after cutting to the outside, earning France a penalty in the 25th minute.
After a brief VAR review confirmed the call, play resumed in the 28th minute with Mbappe stepping up to take the spot kick. He waited for Bounou to commit, but the Moroccan goalkeeper read the shot correctly, diving to his left to make the save and keep the game level.
Mbappé misses a penalty in the FIFA World Cup for the first time ever pic.twitter.com/rtuPICqAJD— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) July 9, 2026
Mbappe joins Benzema in unwanted history
The miss was not only Mbappe’s first penalty failure at a World Cup, but also just the second time a France player has missed a penalty outside of a shootout in the history of the competition. The first was Karim Benzema, who suffered the same fate against Switzerland in 2014.
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