French star Kylian Mbappé, forward for the French national football team, failed to convert a penalty kick for the first time at the World Cup. Mbappé stepped up to take a penalty against Morocco on Thursday evening in the quarter-finals of the 2026 World Cup, but goalkeeper Yassine Bounou made a successful save. The French star had scored two penalties against Argentina in the 2022 final, which Argentina won after a 3-3 draw and a shootout. To reach the quarter-finals of the current edition, the French needed a 1-0 win over Paraguay, with Mbappé scoring the only goal from a penalty. In his overall professional career, the top scorer for Les Bleus and Real Madrid has converted 65 penalties and missed 15. Mbappé is competing with Argentine star Lionel Messi for the top scorer title of the 2026 World Cup, just as they did four years ago on Qatari pitches, in a race that went down to the final match, with Mbappé winning with 8 goals to Messi's 7. So far, Messi and Mbappé share the lead in the current World Cup scoring chart with 8 goals each. Messi is the all-time top scorer in the tournament with 21 goals, followed by Mbappé with 20.