Kylian Mbappe breaks silence after his penalty miss.
Kylian Mbappe has sent an apology to French football supporters in a pitiful post after his penalty mishap cost his side a spot in the quarter-finals of Euro 2020.
The 22-year-old rose up to take the fifth and final spot-kick for France but saw his effort saved superbly by Yann Sommer in the Switzerland goal to end the contest.
Mbappe was dejected as he promptly trudged off down the tunnel as Swiss players celebrated jubilantly with their star goalkeeper.
It’s not been the competition the PSG superstar was hoping for, and he painted his frustration in a message to fans on social media.
“Very difficult to turn the page. The sadness is immense after this elimination, we were not able to achieve our objective,” he said.
“I am sorry for this penalty. I wanted to help the team but I failed. It will be hard to sleep but sadly these are the risks of this sport that I love so much.
“I know that you the fans are disappointed, but I would still like to thank you for your support and for having always believed in us.
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“The most important thing will be to get up even stronger for the challenges to come. Congratulations and good luck to Switzerland.”
Mbappe failed to record a single goal in four games at the competition and missed a number of opportunities against Switzerland in a breathtaking clash in Bucharest.
Switzerland took an early lead through Haris Seferovic and could have doubled their advantage but for Hugo Lloris’ save from Ricardo Rodriguez’s penalty.
That seemed to be the jolt France needed as Karim Benzema hit two goals in quick sequence to spin the tie on its head before Paul Pogba looked to have ended proceedings with a wonderful long-range curler.
But Switzerland were not done yet, as Seferovic gave them hope with a goal nine minutes from the finish, before replacement Mario Gavranovic equalized at the death to send the game into extra time.
The teams could not be separated after another half an hour of business before all nine takers put their spot-kicks away prior to Mbappe’s excruciating miss.
He struck the ball comfortably and with venom but Sommer got a firm hand to it to keep it out and send Switzerland through to the last eight, where they will face Spain.
It’s a bitter punch to Mbappe, but Gary Neville maintained the forward will bounce back after a “tough” few weeks.
“You just knew as Mbappe was walking up, you just thought, ‘oh no’,” Neville said on ITV Sport.
“I said just before extra-time I thought he would turn up. He had a couple of moments in extra-time and you just felt, ‘this has not gone well for him at all’.
“He has aspirations to be the greatest player in the world, like Cristiano [Ronaldo] and Lionel Messi.
“This is a little bump in the road for him, but a massive test for him in the next few weeks. He’ll come through it.
“He’s having a tough time, obviously in this tournament and it’s a tough one for him to take, and the French team.”
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Kylian Mbappe breaks silence after his penalty miss.
