Kylian Mbappe apologises for penalty miss in emotional message to French fans
The PSG superstar missed the decisive spot kick as the world champions were dumped out of Euro 2020 by the Swiss
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Your support makes all the difference.France’s star forward Kylian Mbappe has apologised for missing his penalty in their last 16 match against Switzerland that sent the team crashing out of Euro 2020.
Mbappe stepped up for his side’s fifth penalty after his teammates and all five of Switzerland's players had scored.
He hit a powerful shot but Swiss keeper Yann Sommer got a hand to it to cause the biggest upset at the tournament so far.
As Switzerland celebrated, Mbappe looked emotional and walked to the changing room. He posted to Instagram after the game apologising to fans.
He wrote: “Very difficult to turn the page. The sadness is immense after this elimination, we could not reach our goal.
“I’m sorry for this penalty. I wanted to help the team but failed. Getting to sleep will be difficult but unfortunately it is the ups and downs of this sport that I love so much.
“I know you fans have been disappointed, but I still want to thank you for your support and for always believing in us. The most important thing will be to get up even stronger for the next upcoming deadlines. Congratulations and good luck to Switzerland.”
The last 16 match was a thriller as Switzerland led 1-0 at half-time but France came back to hold a 3-1 lead. A few errors in the French midfield saw the Swiss come back 3-3 to send the match to extra time and then penalties.
And while fans may be frustrated with Mbappe, France’s manager Didier Deschamps says no one on the team can be angry with him.
He said: “Kylian Mbappe is incredibly sad, as are all the players, but nobody can be upset with him as he took on the responsibility of taking the fifth penalty.”
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