France forward Kylian Mbappe afforded himself a wry smile after being heckled by Tunisia fans in their memorable 1-0 victory over the reigning world champions.
The African side rounded off their group stage commitments on Wednesday with a slender 1-0 win. Ex-Sunderland flop Wahbi Khazri netted the winning goal but it was unfortunately not quite enough for Tunisia to book their place in the next stage of the World Cup with Australia instead progressing having beaten Denmark.
Whilst Didier Deschamps will have been disappointed with his side falling to defeat as they attempt to defend their crown, it was a much-changed side at the Education City Stadium. The likes of Mbappe, Hugo Lloris, Ousmane Dembele and more were all left out of the starting line-up against Tunisia with France having already been assured of their place in the last-16.
Deschamps had no option but to turn to PSG star Mbappe with the striker being introduced shortly after Tunisia had taken the lead. In a video shared on Snapchat, the French forward was not exactly given the warmest welcome.
Tunisia fans inside the stadium were asking him not to come onto the pitch when he was getting prepared by the substitutes bench. Mbappe had a hilarious reaction towards supporters having afforded them a cheeky grin.
The former Monaco starlet has been in great form at the World Cup so far having scored three goals in as many games during the group stages and is now just one strike behind his entire total from their successful campaign in Russia four years ago.
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In the end, it looked as though the PSG star's introduction had helped France to a dramatic late victory. Antoine Griezmann thought he had netted an equaliser in the closing stages - only for VAR to rule out the strike due to an offside offence.
There was controversy surrounding the decision with the game having already been restarted before VAR's intervention - something that is forbidden according to the IFAB's Laws of the Game. The French Football Federation have already confirmed that they are sending a complaint to FIFA over the decision.
An official statement read: "We are writing a complaint after Antoine Griezmann's goal was, in our opinion, wrongly disallowed. This complaint has to be filed within 24 hours after the final whistle."
Whilst they would potentially have an argument over the decision, it is unlikely that their loss against Tunisia would be altered with a VAR error not being considered as a reason for a result to be invalidated.
Despite that, their final standings would not change should the result be altered. Deschamps’ troops would still top the group ahead of Australia, whilst Tunisia would also still be eliminated on just two points instead of four.
