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Euro 2020

Euro 2020: Kylian Mbappe ‘never turned up’ for France and ‘you just knew’ he’d miss penalty, slams Gary Neville

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GARY NEVILLE feared Kylian Mbappe was about to fluff his lines as he stepped up for the decisive penalty in France’s game with Switzerland.

The world champions dramatically crashed out of Euro 2020 on Monday in a 5-4 shootout defeat after drawing 3-3 in extra-time.

Gary Neville feared for Kylian Mbappe as he stepped up on Monday

It was Paris Saint-Germain star Mbappe who stepped up for Les Bleus with the game on the line after nine successful penalties in a row.

But Yann Sommer was equal to his effort to produce one of the Euros’ greatest upsets.

Neville told ITV post-game: “You just knew as Mbappe was walking up, you thought, ‘Oh no’.

“I said just before extra-time I thought he would turn up, and he had a couple of moments in extra time. This has just not gone well for him at all.

“He has aspirations to be the greatest player in the world, like Cristiano [Ronaldo] and Lionel Messi.

“This is a little bump in the road for him but a massive test for him in the next few weeks. He’ll come through it.

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“He’s having a tough time obviously in this tournament, and it’s a tough one for him and the French team to take.”

No player had more than Mbappe‘s six shots through 120 minutes and the striker also produced a joint-most four key passes and an assist.

The 22-year-old managed a game-high 96.8 per cent passing accuracy from his 31 attempts – but departs the competition without a goal.

France boss Didier Deschamps spoke of how the player was devastated by the miss.

He said: “Nobody can be annoyed with him.

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

Yann Sommer denied Mbappe’s penalty to end the game

“Kylian takes responsibility, he feels guilty, but he shouldn’t. The squad is united, it always has been.”

France were 3-1 up going into the final ten minutes in Bucharest after Karim Benzema led a fightback having seen Hugo Lloris save a Ricardo Rodriguez penalty with the Swiss a goal up.

However Haris Seferovic’s second of the match and a late Mario Gavranovic equaliser sent the game into extra-time and eventually penalties.

Mbappe’s miss continued France’s 20-plus year wait for a Euros title and the forward described his disappointment via social media.

He wrote: “The sadness is immense after this elimination, we could not reach our goal.

“I’m sorry for this penalty. I wanted to help the team but failed. Getting to sleep will be difficult but unfortunately it is the ups and downs of this sport that I love so much.

“I know you fans have been disappointed, but I still want to thank you for your support and for always believing in us.”

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