Kylian Mbappe missed a first-half penalty before atoning with a brilliant goal as France marched into the World Cup semi-finals with a 2-0 win over Morocco.

Mbappe’s opening goal for France in the 60th minute kept him in the race for the Golden Boot with Argentina captain Lionel Messi.

It was Mbappe’s eighth goal of the tournament, equal with Messi for the tournament lead and one ahead of Norway forward Erling Haaland.

Norway play England in the quarterfinals on Saturday, and Messi will lead Argentina against Switzerland later that night.

Mbappé had a chance from the spot after drawing a foul from Morocco defender Noussair Mazraoui in the box in the 28th minute.

But goalkeeper Yassine Bounou, who had a brilliant tournament, guessed correctly by diving to his left to stop the attempt.

The Real Madrid forward delivered in the second half for the two-time World Cup champions when he dribbled into the area and let loose a rocket that went just inside the post.

Ousmane Dembélé doubled the lead six minutes later on a counterattack as Morocco had no choice but to try and send numbers forward.

This time it was Mbappe making a run into the left side of the penalty area to clear space. Dembele then unleashed his own right-footed shot from about 20 yards out, and while Bounou got a hand to it, he could not keep it from nestling in the bottom right corner.

Mbappé was taken off in the 77th minute, turning and waving with both hands to the Gillette Stadium crowd as he walked off the field.

The French captain also moved one behind Messi on the all-time World Cup scoring list, with 20 goals in 20 matches.

Messi has 21 goals in 31 career World Cup matches over six tournaments, breaking the record of 16 that had been held by Germany striker Miroslav Klose.

Les Bleus will next play on Tuesday in Arlington, Texas, against the winner of Friday’s other quarter-final between Spain and Belgium.

Morocco were shut out for the first time this tournament and eliminated by France for a second consecutive World Cup, having also lost 2-0 in the 2022 semi-finals.

They’re the last African team to exit after nine of 10 qualifiers reached the knockout phase, but only two advanced past the round of 32.

Playing without injured forward Ismael Saibari, the Atlas Lions were second- best for most of the afternoon, only finally forcing France goalkeeper Mike Maignan into a save from Azzedine Ounahi’s effort from distance in the 83rd minute.

LEADING GOALSCORERS:

EIGHT: Lionel Messi (Argentina), Kylian Mbappe (France)

SIX: Harry Kane (England)

FIVE: Erling Haaland (Norway), Ousmane Dembélé (France)

FOUR: Vinícius Júnior (Brazil), Mikel Oyarzabal (Spain), Ismaïla Sarr (Senegal), Julián Quiñones (Mexico), Jude Bellingham (England)

ALL-TIME LEADING WORLD CUP SCORERS:

21 - Lionel Messi (Argentina)

20 - Kylian Mbappe (France)

16 - Miroslav Klose (Germany)

15 - Ronaldo (Brazil)

14 - Gerd Müller (West Germany), Harry Kane (England)

13 - Just Fontaine (France)

12 - Pele (Brazil)

11 - Sándor Kocsis (Hungary), Jürgen Klinsmann (West Germany), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)