France international Kylian Mbappe on
Sunday accused the president of the French Football Federation (FFF) of
ignoring racist abuse after his penalty miss at Euro 2020.
The Paris
Saint-Germain star’s decisive spot-kick against Switzerland was saved in the
last-16 shootout, resulting in the world champions exiting the tournament.
The
23-year-old was vilified on social media by furious fans, and even considered
quitting the national team as a result.
In an
interview with a Sunday newspaper, FFF president Noel Le Graet spoke of the
lack of support Mbappe had felt after the Euro elimination.
Le Graet said
“he (Mbappe) considered that the federation had not defended him after his
missed penalty and the criticism on social media networks”.
“We saw seen
each other for five minutes in my office,” continued Le Graet, adding the
striker “no longer wanted to play in the French team – which he obviously did
not think”.
On Sunday,
Mbappe responded on Twitter, regretting that Le Graet had not taken into
account the “racism” of which he would have been a victim.
“Yes finally I
explained to him (Le Graet) above all that it was in relation to racism, and
NOT to the penalty,” Mbappe said.
“But he
considered that there had been no racism…”
Le Graet had
already come under fire last September after declaring that racism in football
“does not exist or hardly exists”.
A few months
before the Paris prosecutor’s office announced it was investigating racist
messages towards certain French international players after the Euros.
On Saturday,
FIFA published a report pointing to the increase in the number of insults
against footballers on social media.
According to
this study, 38 percent of them were racist in nature.
AFP..
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