World Cup: Mbappe joins Messi in tales of saved penalties as Morocco keeper rewrites history
By Luke Oluoch, July 10, 2026Aside from center-backs skying their spot kicks in post-match shootouts, Lionel Messi was at the centre of an unwanted record as he became the player with the most missed penalties in FIFA World Cup history after missing his fourth World Cup spot kick against Egypt on Tuesday, July 7, 2026.
Earlier in the tournament, he also failed to convert a penalty against Austria. His previous World Cup penalty misses came against Iceland in 2018 and Poland in 2022, making it four missed penalties across his World Cup career.
Despite the record, Messi remains one of the tournament’s greatest players, with an extraordinary legacy on football’s biggest stage.
First miss
Meanwhile, Kylian Mbappe became the latest candidate for an unwanted record after missing his penalty against Morocco.
The Real Madrid ace boasted a clean, 100 per cent penalty conversion rate entering the match. But just as his perfect record was highlighted before the clash, it was quickly rewritten. The player became the second French star to miss a penalty in open play at a World Cup, after Karim Benzema against Switzerland in 2014, adding to the curious cases of the misses in the 2026 edition.
Mbappé had never missed a penalty at the World Cup until that 27th minute against Morocco, having previously taken and scored all five, including one in the 2026 round of 16 1-0 victory against Paraguay.
Meanwhile, in one of the major controversies of this edition so far, pundits and fans were left fuming over the referee’s antics in the build-up to the incident. Immediately after the penalty was confirmed by VAR, the Argentine referee Facundo Tello delayed the spot-kick three separate times.
He repeatedly interrupted the process, disrupting Mbappé’s rhythm before finally allowing the kick to be taken, which the French skipper proceeded to miss. In total, the player was made to wait for three minutes and 12 seconds.
Amid the poor run of form from the spot, Morocco’s shot-stopper Yassine Bounou wrote his own name into the World Cup record books.
With his save against Mbappe, he became the player with the most penalty saves and shootout stops in World Cup history (4). According to Squawka, the Moroccan has only been beaten by two of the nine penalties he has faced at the World Cup, with three going off-target.
Mbappe replicates Messi’s after miss
In a unique and stunning World Cup coincidence shared by the two superstars, Mbappé went on to pull off almost the exact same redemption arc as Messi did in Argentina’s comeback win over Egypt two days earlier. The French skipper redeemed himself with a brilliant goal before providing an assist just six minutes later to secure France’s 2-0 victory.
Both players are also level on goals in this World Cup, even though Mbappé has played one more match than Messi.