After a thrilling six-goal thriller, Switzerland stunned Euro 2020 favorites France by defeating them in the quarterfinals with a 1-0 shootout victory. Yann Sommer stopped Paris Saint-Germain striker Kylian Mbappe's crucial penalty attempt in the shootout, resulting in his country's elimination from the competition.
A challenging encounter for Mbappe, who has been hailed by the football community since helping France win the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The French phenomenon saw this in full force against the Swiss when it came to playing football as a wonderful leveler.
After the game, Mbappe sent a message through his Twitter account: "Very difficult to turn the page. The sadness is immense after this elimination, we could not achieve our goal. I'm sorry for this penalty. I wanted to help the team but I failed. Finding sleep will be difficult but unfortunately, it is the hazards of this sport that I love so much."
Why Mbappe wished to quit French NT per FFF president
As a result of the backlash, several speculated that the 23-year-old will withdraw from consideration for France's World Cup squad. The head of the French Football Federation, Noel Le Graet has now confirmed to Le Journal Du Dimanche that Mbappe was prepared to leave the France national team amid a storm of criticism after his penalty miss in Euro 2020.
"I met with him after the Euros, he felt the Federation had not defended him after his missed penalty and the criticism on the networks. We met for five minutes in my office. He was angry, he didn't want to play for the French team anymore - which he obviously didn't mean.
"You know how it is, he's a winner, he was very frustrated, like all of us, by the elimination. He's so media-friendly. He's a great guy, much more collective than people think."
Why Mbappe was ready to quit French NT per player himself
"I explained to him that the criticism was related to racism and not to the penalty miss,. But he didn't think that there was racism", the PSG star took to Twitter to reply.
