Despite Kylian Mbappe’s goal on his return from injury, Poland, who had already been eliminated, held Les Bleus to a 1-1 tie, forcing France to settle for second place in Group D.
The masked Mbappe, who had returned to the starting lineup following his nose break, felt he had given his team a winning finish to the group stages when he converted a penalty in the second half after Jakub Kiwior had foolishly fouled Ousmane Dembele.
However, VAR drama would ensue when Dayot Upamecano was judged to have fouled replacement Karol Swiderski in the box, leading to Poland being awarded a controversial penalty. Although there was little physical contact, Italian referee Marco Guida issued the penalty after being asked to look at the monitor.
Mike Maignan stopped Poland captain Robert Lewandowski’s first penalty kick, but VAR saw the France goalie off his line, therefore the shot was retaken. The second test was passed by Lewandowski, though through the woodwork.
Lukasz Skorupski, the custodian for Poland, denied Kylian Mbappe four times during a disappointing afternoon for France. Dembele also witnessed a one-on-one that the substitute goalie averted.
With just one victory at the end of the group stages and just one goal from their 26-man roster, France will play the runners-up in Group E, which may be either Romania, Belgium, Slovakia, or Ukraine.
France manager Didier Deschamps:
“It’s not frustrating. Clearly we wanted top spot but to get there, we needed to win. The moment you don’t win, you have to accept it.
“We did the right things to win the game. You need to appreciate what you’ve done, we have qualified. The main objective is completed, even though we don’t have the position we wanted.
“We could have done better in terms of efficiency, even though the goalkeeper made some very good saves.
“We would have liked to have a two-goal lead, that would have made things better. But we weren’t able to do it.”
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