Trinquet Village erupts as VAR penalty sends France past Paraguay | OneFootball

According to L'Équipe, more than a thousand fans crammed into Paris’s Trinquet Village for France’s World Cup last-16 with Paraguay, and their plea for a penalty was granted as Kylian Mbappé clinched a 1-0 win. Referee M. Tantashev awarded it after a VAR check.

On the right bank by the Pont du Garigliano, the padel courts and Basque restaurant set the scene. Around 1,000 attended between 22:00 and 02:00, among them tennis player Diane Parry after a second round Wimbledon exit.

Early arrivals took tables by the giant screen, rosé with burgers or plancha octopus. Others stood with beers or caipirinhas. Without a 12 euros presale, walk-ups were turned away.

Shirts spanned eras, from a 2006 Zidane to Flamengo, Morocco and Brazil. France probed without real threat as brief openings closed. In Philadelphia a first half cooling break paused play, in Paris M6’s commentary was barely audible.

Cédric, 47, from Magny-le-Hongre, was unfazed by 0-0 at half-time, saying Paraguay disrupted and defended well, and that patience would tell.

After the break Mbappé went close on 51 minutes, then Manu Koné tested Orlando Gill on 54. Bradley Barcola made way for Désiré Doué, and four minutes later the room screamed for a spot-kick as Paraguay coach Gustavo Alfaro mimed a dive. VAR intervened, the penalty was given, and Mbappé sent the keeper the wrong way.

No one inside feared a reply, and they were right, as France advanced to the quarters, with Trinquet reopening on Thursday at 22:00 for Morocco.

Source: L'Équipe