The match witnessed violent clashes.

French star Kylian Mbappe said his team "knows how to play football with violence," after leading the "Roosters" to a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Paraguay and qualifying for the World Cup quarter-finals on Saturday.

The Spanish Real Madrid striker praised his teammates for "keeping their cool and not being drawn into Paraguay's attempts to provoke them, cause clashes, and commit fouls," according to his words, after the match that saw violent clashes from the South American team, and was described as featuring "the worst refereeing performance in the World Cup" so far.

Mbappe said: "They thought we came to play in suits and would just show off with pretty passes, but we also know how to play football with violence."

Mbappe scored the winning goal from a penalty in the 70th minute, after a foul on his teammate Desire Doue inside the penalty area.

He said: "If we have to play with violence, we will do it. We have no problem with that."

The penalty was only awarded after consulting the Video Assistant Referee (VAR), while France coach Didier Deschamps criticized Uzbek referee Ilgiz Tantashev for what he considered "leniency" towards Paraguay's players, who finished the match without receiving a single yellow card.

Deschamps said: "We received 3 yellow cards while the other team committed countless fouls against us."

Rayan Cherki was also unhappy with Tantashev's performance, and said: "How many fouls were committed? 30 or 40? And how many yellow cards did the referee show? I have nothing more to say."

The match saw few scoring chances, with many violent and sometimes unsportsmanlike interventions, especially from Paraguay's players.

Former prominent German international referee Patrick Ittrich, who works as an analyst on "Magenta TV" during the World Cup, criticized the referee's performance, stressing that he "allowed such behavior to continue for far too long."

He added: "When it came to showing yellow and red cards, the referee seemed incapable of managing the match. This was the worst refereeing performance in the World Cup so far."

One of the most controversial incidents came in the 39th minute, when Paraguay player Matias Galarza struck Mbappe's shoulder while the ball was not in his possession.

Ittrich said: "He had no intention other than to assault the player," accusing the referee of "losing control of the match."

In contrast, Paraguay coach Gustavo Alfaro defended his team's performance, saying: "Our approach is to fight on the field like lions."

Kylian Mbappe France national team Paraguay national team 2026 World Cup 2026 World Cup