Kylian Mbappe was a lonely figure as he made the long walk back down the tunnel as Swiss players ran the opposite way with contrasting emotions.
Mbappe missed France’s fifth penalty in their round of 16 tie against Switzerland, sending the reigning World Cup champions and bookies-favourite home.
Naturally, the PSG forward was visibly upset, but it was jarring to see that his teammates did not rush to console the 22-year-old.
Speaking on Off The Ball’s The Football Show, Damien Delaney said it was strange to see none of Mbappe’s compatriots comfort him after the miss.
“Normally, when you see a player miss a penalty, the whole team will go up to him and embrace them and say, ‘unlucky, fair play for putting yourself forward’, none of them [French players] did.”
Delaney said he believes Mbappe’s lonely walk down the tunnel illustrates the inherent division amongst Les Blues.
“That must have been the loneliest walk. You think the walk after a red card is bad; the miss after a penalty is a long walk. With the exception of Lloris, who might have patted him on the head, no one else did. I think maybe that is an insight into where they are at.
“They didn’t have any empathy for him or any feelings to go hug him. I felt really uncomfortable watching that; I was thinking, ‘someone, please just go put an arm around him and tell him it’s ok.’
“Even if I don’t get on with a teammate, I’d still go say ‘no one deserves that’. You have to have some sort of feelings towards the guy."
Delaney concluded that the French squad would have no problem celebrating with the Parisian if the situation panned out differently.
“If that he’d have scored and that was the winning penalty, would they all have run and celebrated with him? Of course, they would. So surely someone could have gone to him.”
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