Mbappé snubbed the opposing goalkeeper's handshake — and got a ball thrown at his head
Orlando Gill, named man of the match, tried to shake Mbappé's hand after the final whistle. The star ignored him — and the goalkeeper reacted the only way he could.
France got past Paraguay, but what stuck in the memory wasn't any spectacular goal. It was a scene at the final whistle: Orlando Gill, named man of the match, tried to shake Kylian Mbappé's hand — and was completely blanked.
The Paraguayan goalkeeper didn't take it lying down. He grabbed a ball and hurled it in the direction of the French forward, who was busy celebrating the qualification without so much as a glance around him.
"A moment of anger," Gill himself admitted, according to UOL Esporte. Hard to blame him.
The match itself was a classic of South American game-management. Gustavo Alfaro set Paraguay up to sit deep, kill the tempo and neutralise Didier Deschamps' star-studded attack. The plan worked well enough for Gill to shine — just not well enough to stop France.
Mbappé, for his part, played in what Trivela described as "Libertadores mode": not throwing himself into the opposition half, more restrained, waiting for his moment. The qualification came, the celebrations came — and the handshake protocol fell by the wayside.
Golmetria's model puts France at a 13.8% chance of winning the title, keeping them among the genuine contenders at this World Cup. But if Mbappé wants to go all the way, he might want to start treating the man of the match with a little more respect — even when that man is on the other side.