Adrien Rabiot insists England shouldn't have had second penalty

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Adrien Rabiot insists England shouldn't have had second penalty

Adrien Rabiot said justice was served when Harry Kane missed a penalty in France's 2-1 victory over England in the World Cup semi finals.

The Three Lions were gifted the chance to draw level again from the spot, having done so in the first half through Kane after Aurelien Tchouameni opened the scoring. Olivier Giroud's header had France 2-1 up when Kane stepped up again, this time shooting over Hugo Lloris bar.

The penalty was given for Theo Hernandez's barge into the back of substitute Mason Mount, though Rabiot did not feel there was enough in the altercation to warrant a foul.

He said: "First of all, I’m not sure that it’s really a foul. 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.

Les Bleus will face Morocco next in the semi finals. The Atlas Lions have enjoyed a historic campaign so far and Rabiot insisted his side would not be underestimating anyone.

He added: “It will be a historic match.

“We are aware that if they are here, it’s because they have deserved it. We’ve watched the games, they have very good players. They also know how to suffer, how to take it on themselves.

“We won’t underestimate anyone, just as we have done up to now. And the important thing is also to recover well because we have played a lot of games and we’re starting to feel the fatigue.”