France booked their place in the 2026 FIFA World Cup semi-finals with a convincing 2-0 victory over Morocco on Thursday, but the celebrations were briefly overshadowed by an injury scare involving captain Kylian Mbappé.
Mbappé opened the scoring just after the hour mark, taking his tournament tally to eight goals and three assists, but his night ended early. In the 77th minute, the French superstar sat down near the center circle, unable to continue after appearing to injure his right ankle. He was immediately replaced by Jean-Philippe Mateta.
The Real Madrid forward left the pitch to a standing ovation and was later seen with an ice pack wrapped around his ankle. The injury appeared to stem from a heavy challenge by Morocco defender Issa Diop shortly after Mbappé’s goal, with Diop receiving a yellow card for the late tackle.
“It’s his ankle,” France manager Didier Deschamps said after the match. “He felt a bit of pain, but that’s normal with the number of games we’ve been playing.”
Mbappé quickly eased concerns himself, insisting the substitution was precautionary.
“I’m fine. I took a knock to my ankle,” he said. “At that moment, JP (Mateta) was in a better position to play the final 15 minutes. He came on well and could even have scored, so it’s a positive.”
France will now turn their attention to recovery before facing either Belgium or Spain in the World Cup semi-finals on July 14 in Dallas.
