Euro 2020: Kylian Mbappe upset after penalty miss as France knocked out of Championships

Yann Sommer saved the last penalty kick taken by Kylian Mbappe to make in 5-4 to knock out the FIFA World Cup Champions in the Round of 16 of the Euro 2020 late on Monday night at the National Arena in Bucharest.

France led 3-1 on the night until Swiss forward Haris Seferovic grabbed his second goal of the night in the 81st minute to give Switzerland any hope of staying in the tie. And that all paid off as Mario Gavranovic equalised in the 90th minute to make it all square at 3-3.

Extra time followed but no team was able to break the other's defence with France coming close with Olivier Giroud's header saved by the Swiss goalkeeper Sommer.

In the penalty shootout, Swiss captain Granit Xhaka won the toss and chose to shoot first. The first 9 penalties were all converted to set up the last spot-kick for Kylian Mbappe who shot to the keeper's right and Sommer did well to get down and save it.

What is going to be a night to remember for the Swiss fans after a sensational comeback from 3-1 down to make it 3-3 at the end of regulation time is a night to forget for French star Kylian Mbappe after missing the final spot-kick that would have taken the game to sudden death had he put his chance in the back of the net. It just wasn’t meant to be for him.

Mbappe "wanted to help but failed"

France forward soon took to social media and posted an apology on his official Twitter account saying "Very difficult to turn the page. The sadness is immense after this elimination, we were not able to achieve our objective." 

"I am sorry for this penalty. I wanted to help the team but I failed. It will be hard to sleep but sadly these are the risks of this sport that I love so much. I know that you the fans are disappointed, but I would still like to thank you for your support and for having always believed in us." said a dejected Mbappe.

"The most important thing will be to get up even stronger for the challenges to come. Congratulations and good luck to Switzerland," he added as he now turns to get back stronger for the 2022 FIFA World Cup being held in Qatar in December 2022.

France coach doesn't blame Mbappe

However the France coach, Didier Deschamps refused to put the blame on Mbappe saying "Nobody can be annoyed with him,”

“When you take the responsibility, it can happen. He is obviously very affected by it." said the France manager.

Deschamps further added, "Kylian takes responsibility, he feels guilty, but he shouldn’t."

"The squad is united, it always has been," said Deschamps as the French players were seen consoling Mbappe after his spot-kick miss.

This now means that France faces a long journey home while Switzerland will face Spain in the Euro 2020 quarterfinals on July 2.