France’s forward Kylian Mbappe sent a heartfelt apology to fans after he missed the decisive penalty, which saw his nation crash out of Euro 2020 in the hands of Switzerland on Monday.
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The Paris Saint-Germain star can stand a night to forget against Switzerland. He missed a handful of great chances and saw that his evening went from bad to worse when his penalty was saved by Yann Sommer and sent France out of the competition.
Mbappe finished Euro 2020 without handling a single goal, without any player taking more shots than his 12 without finding the net. After the match, the 22-year-old took to Twitter to take responsibility for his country’s shortcomings.
“It is very difficult to turn the page,” Mbappe wrote. “The grief is huge after this elimination, we could not achieve our goal.
“I’m sorry for my penalty. I wanted to help the team but failed. Finding sleep will be difficult but unfortunately it’s the dangers of this sport that I love so much. I know the fans were disappointed, but I would still like to thank you for your support and for always believing in us.
Mbappe was comforted after the match / Daniel Mihailescu – Pool / Getty Images
“The most important thing will be to come back even stronger in the coming years. Congratulations and good luck to Switzerland.”
Despite Mbappe’s attempts to take the blame, manager Didier Deschamps was not interested and instead offered comfort to the youngest player in the squad and insisted that everything they do is done together as a group.
“Kylian, even if he did not score [at the Euros], he was decisive in many acts that we had, and he took responsibility for taking this punishment, he said (via ESPN).
Deschamps did not accuse Mbappe / FRANCK FIFE / Getty Images
“No one is really angry at him. I talked to our players, we feel the strength of this team, we have had many fantastic moments together – today it really hurts, there is a lot of sadness.
“The whole group is united in the locker room. Nobody talks about ‘you made this mistake’ or ‘you made that mistake’. Kylian knows her responsibility.”
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