Kylian Mbappe instructed Michael Oliver to pass the France captain’s armband to Aurelien Tchouameni after being substituted during their 4-1 win over Norway. This incident comes barely a week after the Real Madrid forward had a heated exchange with referee Alireza Faghani during their opening group-stage game against Senegal.
Mbappe, 27, was not quite as animated with the Premier League official. After removing the armband, he fiddled with it in his right hand while walking over to Oliver, arm outstretched.
During the handover, they managed to stretch it as Mbappe held on while issuing orders. He then pointed towards Tchouameni.
Oliver swiftly obliged as the forward continued his walk off the pitch to be replaced by Jean-Philippe Mateta. France led 3-1 at the time, with Desire Doue finishing Norway off in the fourth minute of added time by heading home a Bradley Barcola cross.
Mbappe did not get himself on the scoresheet, but assisted the first two goals of Ousmane Dembele’s 25-minute hat-trick. Tchouameni set up the third, which restored their two-goal advantage after Thelo Aasgaard briefly halved the deficit.
Madrid’s main man had all but the final three minutes of the 90 to make it a hat-trick of assists. However, it was not to be.
View 2 ImagesMichael Oliver and Kylian Mbappe briefly pushed and pulled over the captain’s armband(Image: Javier Garcia/Shutterstock)
Despite the game effectively being over as a contest by that stage, it appears Mbappe was still well aware of the new substitution time limits. That is why he was so insistent on the referee handing over his armband, rather than doing it himself, as he would have done last season.
Players at the World Cup have just ten seconds to leave the pitch after their number is held aloft. The measure to curb time-wasting penalises the oncoming player by having their team play with 10 men for at least a minute if the swap does not take place within the time frame.
The only exceptions to leaving the pitch at the nearest point are injury or security concerns, neither of which applied in this instance.
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Mbappe, though, was not such a stickler for the rules in France’s opening game. After having a penalty chalked off when they played Senegal, the captain protested after feeling Sadio Mane fouled him.
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Even after consulting the pitchside monitor, Faghani stood by his decision, insisting that Mbappe initiated contact with the former Liverpool player. Dembele and Michael Olise also remonstrated with the referee.
Nicola Hickling, Expert Analyst and Professional LipReader at LipReader Ltd, confirmed Faghani said: “That Diouf, just a contact and Sadio, a contact.” Mbappe then responded: “Hey, I’ma go and watch it.”
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