Noël Le Graët, the president of the French Football Federation, has written a letter to his Argentine colleague about the “abnormal excesses” towards Kylian Mbappé during the celebration of the Argentine players of the worldfootball title.
Martin Delvaux
After Argentina defeated France via penalties in a blistering World Cup final last Sunday, relations between the two football superpowers have been tense. Cause? Not the victory in itself, but the disparaging way in which that world title has been celebrated by some Argentines. Especially the reactions of the crazy Argentinian goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez towards the French star player Kylian Mbappé were experienced as very insulting by our southern neighbors. Martinez, who still conceded four goals from the PSG striker during the final, remarkably asked for an ironic minute of silence for Mbappé in the dressing room, “because he died”.
During the celebration in the streets of Buenos Aires, Martinez could not be overlooked again. The goalkeeper of the Albiceleste was noticed during the parade through the city with a plastic doll of… Kylian Mbappé. That is to say: a plastic doll to which Mbappé’s head was glued. Photos show him pressing (the fake version of) Mbappé firmly to the chest, under the watchful eye of Lionel Messi, teammate of the French superstar at PSG.
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In France they cannot laugh at the antics of the Aston Villa goalkeeper. “We have launched several procedures,” said Noël Le Graët, president of the French Football Federation. Le Graët wrote, among other things, a letter to his Argentinian colleague Claudio Tapia. “It is very shocking. These are guys who have done their best to make the French team succeed. It is important that we support them. I find these excesses abnormal, in the context of a sports competition, and I find it difficult to understand. This is going too far. Mbappe’s behavior was exemplary.”
