The president of the French Football Federation has revealed he has contacted his Argentina counterpart to question the South American side’s continued taunting of Kylian Mbappe.
Goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez was among the Argentina players who took exception to Mbappe claiming that South American football was not yet as advanced as in Europe and has not shied away from leading the mockery of the Paris Saint-Germain forward.
Having asked for a ‘moment of silence’ for Mbappe in the dressing room after their World Cup triumph, Martinez later took a baby doll with a picture of the Frenchman’s face strapped to it to the public celebrations in his homeland.
Things escalated to a concerning level as a group of Argentina supporters even burned a coffin with Mbappe’s name on.
Speaking to Ouest-France, FFF president Noel Le Graet admitted he has reached out to Chiqui Tapia, head of the Argentina Football Association, for an explanatiion of the mockery.
“I have written a letter to my counterpart from the Argentine Federation, I find these excesses abnormal in the context of a sports competition and it is difficult for me to understand them,” Le Graet stated. “They go too far. Mbappe’s behaviour has been exemplary.”
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France’s Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, has also spoken out against Argentina’s taunting and called on FIFA to punish La Albiceleste.
“What does FIFA do?” he said. “Sport is fair-play, it is respecting others, respecting the one who has lost, not insulting the loser.”