Kylian Mbappé was not happy with the refereeing in the Nations League semi-final between Spain and France (5-4) on Thursday evening. According to Mbappé, the French were entitled to more injury time, which is why he went to referee Michael Oliver to complain.
Oliver blew the whistle after 95 minutes and 57 seconds, after which Mbappé walked over to the referee to look at his watch. Shortly before that, France had made it 5-4 and the French were chasing the equalizer.
Five minutes were added, but according to Mbappé there should have been at least one more minute. This was because there were two substitutions and one goal scored in injury time.
“We are angry,” Mbappé told French broadcaster TF1 afterwards. “If five minutes are added, you also have to play five minutes. If I talk about it now, I’m probably a bad loser. But five minutes is five minutes. That makes a big difference.”
‘This is very frustrating’
Yet Mbappé did not want to put all the blame on the referee afterwards. “We were not consistent enough throughout the match,” he said. France faced a 4-0 deficit after 55 minutes, but had a bizarre comeback in store.
After a converted penalty (59th minute) by Mbappé, Spain completely collapsed. France took advantage of this and scored three more times from the 79th minute, but ultimately had to settle for a 5-4 score. “We wanted to win so badly. This is very frustrating,” Mbappé said.