Kylian Mbappe delivers X-rated live interview as Paraguay’s dark arts slammed

France’s win over Paraguay was overshadowed by ugly scenes during and after the World Cup last-16 clash.

Les Bleus had to grind out a 1-0 victory thanks to Kylian Mbappe’s strike from the penalty spot.

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But it was Paraguay’s dark arts that became the huge talking point.

Gustavo Velazquez tried to scuff the penalty spot before Mbappe scored his seventh goal of the tournament to go level with Lionel Messi for the Golden Boot.

Juan Jose Caceres kicked out at Mbappe, Adrien Rabiot was clattered, Jules Kounde took an arm to the face, and Dayot Upamecano got an elbow in the stomach.

Remarkably, no Paraguay player was booked in the whole match.

Referee Ilgiz Tantashev has been widely criticised for his weak performance – L’Equipe gave him just 1/10 in their notoriously brutal ratings.

Tempers boiled over after the final whistle as Mbappe wildly celebrated in front of the France fans.

Paraguay goalkeeper Orlando Gill looked to shake his hand, but the Real Madrid striker ignored him.

Gill threw the ball at Mbappe’s back and scuffles broke out. France boss Didier Deschamps even dispatched his two ‘burliest lads’ to protect their star man.

“We showed that we are not only a team who plays flashy attacking football,” Mbappe said afterwards. “If we have to put our hands in the s***, we will put our hands in the s***.”

He added: “They thought we’d show up in tuxedos, make some fancy moves, but football’s not just that. We did it today. We were better than them.”

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Speaking after the game, Gill said: “Kylian Mbappe has p***** me off.

“I stretched my hand to congratulate him, but he ignored me”.

Deschamps also said there were some unwanted words directed at his players from the Paraguay bench.

“There were some insults from the other bench we could have done without,” said Deschamps in his news conference afterwards.

“I asked the two biggest lads to go and stand around Kylian at the end because they were going to chop him down,” Deschamps added.

“It wasn’t easy. They use every trick in the book. It’s not the kind of football that will bring people to the stadium, but they defended well. It is always difficult against these South American teams.”

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Paraguay: Absolute disgrace

The South American nation have been rightly slammed for their antics.

Speaking on BBC Sport, Joe Hart said: “This Paraguay team was an absolute disgrace I would drag my teammates off if they played like that, I would never, ever want to win a game playing like that and the referee was an absolute disgrace.”

“I love how Mbappe has behaved in this game,” added Hart.

“The Paraguay players have come for him from minute one. When he was laughing at the players, he is allowed to be arrogant.

“I would never want to play football that way. The referee didn’t help in any circumstances. The fact that not one Paraguayan was booked inside the 90 minutes is astonishing.”

France will next face Morocco in the quarter-finals of the World Cup on Thursday at 9pm.