Kylian Mbappé will face Spain this Tuesday in the semifinals of the , a clash that history has turned into more than just a game: the Spaniards are the only team to have defeated the French captain three times while wearing the Les Bleus jersey.
The meeting is scheduled for 3:00 PM Cuba time, at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and the winner will advance to the much-anticipated final that many have been waiting for since the beginning of the tournament.
The balance of Mbappé against La Roja is striking: four matches played, just one victory. The only win came in the final of the 2021 Nations League at San Siro, when France overturned a 1-0 deficit with goals from Karim Benzema and Mbappé himself in the 80th minute to win 2-1.
The other three matches ended in a Spanish triumph. In a friendly held in Saint-Denis in 2017, Spain won 2-0 with Mbappé on the field for 65 minutes. In the semifinals of the Euro 2024, played in Munich, France took the lead, but the goals from Lamine Yamal and Dani Olmo completed the comeback. And in the semifinal of the Nations League 2025, in Stuttgart, Spain triumphed 5-4 in a nine-goal match where the Real Madrid forward scored, but it wasn't enough.
Mbappé's individual numbers against Spain are not bad: two goals in four matches, with an average of one goal every 134 minutes, a figure almost identical to his overall ratio with France, where he has scored 64 goals in 104 matches, at a rate of one goal every 131 minutes. The issue is that these personal records have not translated into collective victories against the Spanish team.
The statistic that best summarizes the discomfort is this: since his debut with the senior national team, Mbappé has recorded only 15 losses, three of which were against Spain. One in five of the French captain's setbacks has come at the hands of the Spaniards.
Spain arrives at this semifinal as the reigning champion of the Euro 2024 and the Nations League 2025, under the leadership of Luis de la Fuente. In the quarter-finals of the World Cup, they eliminated Belgium 2-1 with a decisive goal from Mikel Merino in the 87th minute at the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.
France, for its part, defeated Morocco 2-0 on July 9 at Gillette Stadium in Boston, with goals from Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé, and is aiming to reach its third consecutive World Cup final following those of 2018 and 2022.
In the individual race for the Golden Boot of the 2026 World Cup, Mbappé leads with eight goals and three assists, ahead of Lionel Messi, who also has eight goals but only two assists. With 20 goals in three World Cups, the Frenchman is the second highest scorer in the tournament's history, just one goal shy of the Argentine's record.
The referee appointed to officiate the match is Iván Barton. The winner will compete in the final on July 19 at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, where the other semifinal matchup between England and Argentina will also be determined.
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