‘Vulgar’, ‘pathetic’ and ‘inelegant’: France criticizes ‘excesses’ of Argentine players

The president of the French Football Federation, Noël Le Graet, wrote a letter to the president of the AFA (Argentine Football Association), Claudio Tapia, after the provocations of the Argentine players, especially against Kylian Mbappé, in the celebrations after the World Cup final .

The information is from the Ouest-France newspaper.

“I wrote a letter to my counterpart from the Argentine federation. I see these excesses in a sports competition as abnormal and I cannot understand them. They went too far. Mbappé’s behavior was exemplary”, said Le Graet in an interview with the website.

During the Argentine players’ victory motorcade in Buenos Aires, goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez carried a doll representing a baby, whose face was covered with a picture of Mbappé.

In the locker room at the Lusail stadium, on Sunday, Martínez had already provoked the French striker, singing with his teammates: “A minute of silence… for Mbappe”.

Also asked about the subject in an interview with the station Sud Radio, the Minister of Economy of France, Bruno Le Maire, considered the attitude of the Argentines “unworthy”.

“What does FIFA do? Sport is fair play, it’s about respecting others, respecting those who lost, not adding insult to disappointment,” declared Le Maire.

Also generating controversy in France was a video in which former Argentine striker Sergio Agüero, in a live on Instagram after the final in Qatar, refers to Frenchman Eduardo Camavinga as “cara de pinga” (an expression considered offensive in Argentina).

“I have nothing against him. He’s a crack. It’s a joke, like I do on the stream. Zero malice, brother. Peace and love,” Agüero responded on Twitter to a user who criticized him for using those terms against Camavinga.

French Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra lamented what she called the “painful” and “inelegant” behavior of some Argentine players during the celebrations. “While our team knew how to lose with dignity, the way the Argentine team acted after that victory was not worthy of the match we saw,” she said.

The main complaint was due to the behavior of goalkeeper Martinez.

“It’s simply vulgar, out of place. It really doesn’t fit,” the minister insisted. About the goalkeeper, she said: “it’s a little more pathetic”.

Faced with the controversy, shortly after the match, the goalkeeper tried to explain what led him to make the gesture when he won the golden glove, an award given to the best goalkeeper in the competition.

“I did that because the French booed me. I don’t take shit home,” he said, implying that the inelegant gesture was a response to France fans in the arena that was the stage of the Qatar World Cup final.