Kylian Mbappe said Paraguay “thought we’d show up in tuxedos to play” but France “know how to play dirty football too” after winning a spiteful clash at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Kylian Mbappe’s 70th-minute penalty gave France a 1-0 win in Philadelphia en route to the quarter-finals.

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France were frustrated by a physical Paraguay throughout the Round-of-16 contest amid sweltering conditions as tempers threatened to boil over on numerous occasions at Philadelphia Stadium.

There were off-the-ball incidents, strong challenges and the dark arts as Paraguay looked to repeat their giant-slaying exploits, having stunned four-time champions Germany in the Round of 32.

Paraguay goalkeeper Orlando Gill also threw a ball into the back of Mbappe, having seen his post-game handshake snubbed by the Les Bleus captain.

El arquero de Paraguay le quiso dar la mano e Mbappe
El otro se hizo el boludo y siguió de largo
Asi que le tiro un pelotazo kjjpic.twitter.com/Zob4tPR8lp

— ElBuni (@therealbuni) July 5, 2026

Afterwards, Mbappe told reporters: “We’ve shown we’re not just a team that knows how to play attacking football.

“If we have to get our hands dirty, we will do it. They thought we’d show up in tuxedos to play, but we know how to play dirty football too.

“We won and we were better than them.”

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Mbappe moved level atop the Golden Boot standings with his seventh goal of the 2026 showpiece, alongside Argentina legend Lionel Messi.

The Real Madrid superstar has also scored 19 career World Cup goals, only one adrift of all-time leader Messi.

Mbappe has scored a record-extending 11 goals in the World Cup knockout rounds. To put that into context, he has scored as many knockout round goals as Cristiano Ronaldo has scored World Cup goals in total (11).

France head coach Didier Deschamps had his say on Paraguay’s antics, added: “I asked the two biggest lads to go and stand ​around Kylian at the end because they were going to chop him down.

“It wasn’t easy. They use every trick in the book. It’s not the ​kind of football that will bring people to the stadium, but ​they defended well. It is always difficult against these South American teams.”