Rabiot claims it was 'JUSTICE' that Kane missed second penalty against France

Adrien Rabiot believes justice was served when Harry Kane missed a late penalty for England in their quarter-final defeat against France, as the midfielder believes the spot-kick should never have been given.

France twice took the lead at the Al Bayt Stadium through Aurelien Tchouameni and Olivier Giroud, but they were pegged back the first time by a Kane penalty, and England had another chance to draw level when Theo Hernandez was adjudged to have barged Mason Mount over in the box.

However, Kane stepped up and blasted his effort over the bar as England crashed out in devastating fashion. Rabiot has admitted he was 'happy' that Kane missed the target, but was not convinced he should have been given the opportunity to score in the first place.

'First of all, I’m not sure that it’s really a foul. We’ve seen hundreds of actions like that that aren’t given,' Rabiot told reporters.

'I thought the refereeing was a bit borderline at times tonight, but we won’t linger on that. Of course, when he missed, we were happy, it was justice because there was no penalty.'

Rabiot was unhappy about that particular penalty decision, but there were a number of other debatable calls from Brazilian referee Walter Sampaio that appeared to go in France's favour.

Sampaio waved play on after Bukayo Saka seemed to be fouled by Dayot Upamecano in the build-up to Tchouameni's goal in the first half.

England were also denied another penalty before the break when Kane went down under a clumsy challenge from Upamecano.

Rabiot admitted that his side rode their luck at times, but was delighted to progress to the semi-finals as France look to defend the title they won four years ago in Russia.

'Sometimes you also need that bit of luck, of success. We had it tonight, everything came together. We are really proud to reach the semi-final in this way,' he added.