Thursday evening, during the penultimate day of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup, the Blues won (4-0) against Ukraine, but the match could have changed a few minutes before the opening score. In the 50th minute, when the score was still 0-0, a foul by Dayot Upamecano was verified by video for a potential Ukrainian penalty. While the referee was watching the images, Kylian Mbappé attempted a gesture to disrupt the execution of the penalty, a little poker move which could have influenced the course of the match.
“There was no one near the penalty spot. And I take a lot of penalties, so I pretty much know the areas of the support foot. If he could have slipped a little if there had been a penalty, we take… It’s a rat’s move. I spoke with the referee and he immediately told me that it was possible that there would be a penalty. So I switched to the fact that there was a penalty. I wanted to put Mike Maignan in the best possible conditions. It doesn’t have to be done again, but these are little rat gestures as they say”explained the captain of the Blues at the microphone of TF1. A fun anecdote from behind the scenes of Mbappé’s match.
