The failure of Kylian Mbappe

June 28, 2021, will be a day that Kylian Mbappe will long remember, unfortunately for all the wrong reasons. The young striker missed the decisive penalty against Switzerland on Monday night to send France home.

Not a single penalty was missed in the shootout, with Mbappe taking France's fifth penalty. As the striker walked up, there was an air of uncertainty on the player's face, the player who had hardly contributed during the 120 minutes of intense football on show.

Yann Sommer guessed right and the Swiss went into delirium at the expense of Mbappe, who wasn't even consoled by a single teammate following his miss.

He came into the competition as the potential star of the tournament and left with a whimper as his side crashed out of the round of 16.

Mbappe 0, Benzema 4

Mbappe failed to score a goal that wasn't offside in the whole competition, even with France despite having a handful of clear-cut chances during the competition. The player beside him, Karim Benzema, finished the tournament with four goals as he rekindled his love for international football.

Mbappe's message

The French striker did speak following his side's elimination, regretting his miss.

"It's very difficult to get over, the sadness is immense after this elimination as we couldn't reach our target," he said.

"I am devastated by the penalty, I wanted to help the team but I failed.

"Sleeping will be difficult tonight, but it's the ups and downs of this sport that I love so much."

"I know fans have been disappointed, but I want to thank them for their support and for always believing in us."

"Congratulations to Switzerland."

France's problems

Mbappe's failure to show up as expected has been the main problem for France in the tournament, but not the only one.

The defence haemorrhaged goals. After starting well against Germany, from the second match against Hungary the French's defensive weakness was already apparent. Portugal scored another two against Les Bleus, whilst Switzerland scored three.

Benzema and also Paul Pogba performed consistently well during the competition. But, as a forward, being unable to score a single goal will weigh heavy on Mbappe.

The positive, though, could be the fact that suffering his first big national disappointment at the age of 22 will only make him a better player going into the future.