Kylian Mbappé penalty saved after three minutes 11 seconds VAR delay | OneFootball

There was a VAR check lasting three minutes 11 seconds before Kylian Mbappé’s penalty in France’s World Cup quarter-final against Morocco, and Yassine Bounou saved the kick to his left.

L'Équipe notes that the ploy to put the France captain on ice did not pay off, as he waited a long time facing the goalkeeper before taking and missing.

Noussair Mazraoui’s desperate, illegal tackle on a sprinting Mbappé led to the award, and after the save the forward turned to the referee and gestured in frustration.

As before against Paraguay, Ousmane Dembélé initially took the ball on the spot while Mbappé stepped back to focus. He then had to wait again as the giant screens at Gillette Stadium continued to show "VAR - Penalty check".

Officials reviewed the whole sequence, focusing mainly, probably, on early contact between Désiré Doué and Achraf Hakimi. From the first replay it seemed clear Mbappé had taken the ball cleanly thanks to firm pressing on his PSG team-mate.

Before his run-up he was told to reposition the ball, which the referee judged was too far forward. It was his second miss in 16 attempts for France, the previous coming against Kazakhstan in 2021. Despite the stoppage and a three-minute hydration break, referee Facundo Tello added only five minutes at the end of the first half.

Source: L'Équipe