Mbappe and Dembele send France into World Cup semi-finals

Kylian Mbappe scored his eighth goal of this World Cup to make up for an earlier missed penalty as France proved too good for Morocco and moved into the semi-finals.

Mbappe won the first-half penalty when he was fouled by Manchester United defender Noussair Mazraoui, but his poorly hit spot-kick was comfortably saved by Yassine Bounou.

The Real Madrid striker made amends in the 60th minute with a superb curling effort from just inside the penalty area to give France a deserved lead.

Ballon d'Or holder Ousmane Dembele doubled France's advantage six minutes later when he was allowed to run at the Morocco defence, with his low strike finding the net despite Bounou getting a hand to the ball.

Mbappe's goal moves him level with Argentina's Lionel Messi at this tournament, although the Frenchman is now top in the race for the Golden Boot as he has registered more assists than his former Paris St-Germain team-mate.

The two are also having a thrilling contest to see who will become the all-time World Cup top scorer, with 27-year-old Mbappe now on 20 goals compared to the record 21 from 39-year-old Messi.

Two-time winners France, who lost to Argentina on penalties in the 2022 World Cup final, will play Spain or Belgium in the semi-final in Dallas on Tuesday (20:00 BST).

France won the World Cup in 1998 and 2018 and have been tipped by many to go on and lift the trophy again on 19 July.

Before this quarter-final, former England striker Ian Wright described Didier Deschamps' side as "one of the most clear favourites for a World Cup tournament I have ever seen".

A match against Morocco, a rematch of the 2022 World Cup semi-final which France also won 2-0, was expected to be the toughest test so far.

Morocco, seventh in the world rankings, were frozen out though, registering their only shot on target in the 83rd minute when 2-0 down. They had only five attempts in total, four of those off target.

France's intent was shown early on when Mbappe had a 25-yard strike pushed wide, with Bounou then keeping out Dayot Upamecano's header from the following corner.

Dembele and Adrien Rabiot also missed opportunities, before Mbappe's weak penalty.

The striker had to wait more than three minutes before the spot-kick as the video assistant referee checked whether there was a foul, and Mbappe then stuttered in his run-up before his low shot to the right corner was easily saved.