French international striker Kylian Mbappe on Sunday accused local football association president Noel Le Gré of ignoring racist slurs suffered by the Paris Saint-Germain star after he conceded a penalty in the European Cup last summer.
France’s World Cup campaign in the European Cup final came to an end last summer as a result of Swiss action after Mbappé missed a penalty in a 3-3 draw in regulation and overtime.
The 23-year-old Saint-Germain star has been subjected to so much abuse on social media for missing a penalty that he has even considered not returning to the French national team.
In an interview with the Journal du Dimanche, published every Sunday, the president of the French federation spoke about the lack of support Mbappé felt after being knocked out of European competition.
“He (Mbappe) felt that the federation did not protect him after he missed the penalty and after the criticism he received on social media,” said Le Grae.
“We saw each other for five minutes in my office,” he said, revealing that the striker “doesn’t want to play for France anymore – which he didn’t think about.”
Mbappé responded to Le Gres with a tweet expressing regret that the President of the French Football Federation did not take into account the “racism” he could be a victim of.
“Yes, I finally explained to him (Lou Gret) that in the first place it was about racism, and not about penalties. But he thought there was no racism…” Mbappé said.
Last September, Lou Greta was criticized for calling racism in football “non-existent or barely present.”
And before that, in July, the Paris prosecutor’s office said it was investigating racist messages against some French national team players after the European Cup.
On Saturday, the International Football Association (FIFA) published a report indicating an increase in the number of insults against football players on social networks.
According to this study, 38 percent of these insults were racist in nature.
