France star claims Harry Kane penalty miss for England ‘was justice’ after referee mistake | OneFootball

France midfielder Adrien Rabiot has claimed that Harry Kane’s penalty miss for England “was justice” as the spot-kick should not have been given.

The 2018 World Cup winners progressed through to the semi-finals of this year’s competition by beating England on Saturday night.

The Three Lions fells behind early on as Aurelien Tchouameni fired the ball home from outside the penalty area.

Gareth Southgate’s grew into the game and were arguably the better side over 90 minutes.

England equalised after the interval via a penalty after Bukayo Saka was fouled. Kane placed the ball in the top corner past Hugo Lloris to make it 1-1.

They then spurned chances to ahead before a header from former Arsenal and Chelsea striker Olivier Giroud beat Jordan Pickford.

But England were awarded a second penalty in the latter stages as Theo Hernandez barged over Mason Mount.

Kane stepped up again but this time the Tottenham forward leant back and fired the ball way over the crossbar. This took the wind out of England’s sails and they were ultimately beaten 2-1.

France will now face Morocco in the semi-finals and the winner of that tie will come up against Argentina or Croatia in the final.

Rabiot reacted to the penalty miss post-match and he suggested that a spot-kick should not have been awarded in the first place.

“First of all, I’m not sure that it’s really a foul,” Rabiot said after the game.

“We’ve seen hundreds of actions like that that aren’t given. 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. But 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.”

Kane admitted after England’s World Cup exit that he was “absolutely gutted”.

“Absolutely gutted. We’ve given it everything and it’s come down to a small detail which I take responsibility for,” Kane wrote on Twitter.

“There’s no hiding from it, it hurts and it’ll take some time to get over it but that’s part of sport.

“Now it’s about using the experience to be mentally and physically stronger for the next challenge. Thanks for all the support throughout the tournament – it means a lot.”

Declan Rice added: “The greater the talent, the greater the aim. The greater the aim, the greater the pain along the path to reaching it.

“This is all part of the journey to us being successful as a team.

“Thank you to everyone for your incredible support. We gave it absolutely everything.”