Bordeaux, Aug 3: France players say they used an offensive song about their heritage as motivation to beat soccer rival Argentina at the Paris Olympics.
Players from both sides clashed on the field immediately after France’s 1-0 quarterfinal victory. To many observers, the fracas seemed inevitable.
Friday night’s game was played amid high tensions in the wake of a racism scandal following a video showing Argentina’s senior-team players celebrating after winning the Copa America last month and singing an offensive song about the African heritage of France’s players.
“A great rivalry has been created between two great soccer nations. But given what’s been said in the past few weeks our victory is there, on the field and off it,” France captain Alexandre Lacazette said.
“We had in mind what was said (in the video). We had to stay focused on the Olympic Games, but maybe it did give us a little bit of extra motivation for us – and for France.” The chief provocateur on Friday was France midfielder Enzo Millot, who admitted that he goaded the Argentines with an element of payback for that video.
“I went to celebrate the victory in front of their bench, yes, it was to wind them up a bit,” he said. “We were thinking about it (the video), it spurred us on.” Striker Jean-Philippe Mateta, who scored France’s goal with a powerful early header, concurred.
“The controversy? Yes, maybe that did serve to motivate us,” he said. “You know the Argentines, they wanted to spoil the party. But you can’t spoil the party, they made it even better.” Argentina’s players chased Millot around the field as the situation threatened to spiral out of control before things calmed down after a couple of wild minutes.
“As soon as we saw who we were playing we were glad to be playing against them,” said Millot, who plays for Stuttgart in Germany’s Bundesliga. “It’s a good war between two nations.”
Soccer’s governing body FIFA opened an investigation into the video after the French soccer federation filed a complaint. Meanwhile, Premier League club Chelsea said it would deal internally with midfielder Enzo Fernandez, who was at the heart of the controversy.
“It’s a pity that such things are said in 2024,” Lacazette said, referring to the refrain. “But, we have faith in FIFA.” The fallout from that reached political levels in Argentina, led to leaders of both governments talking things through in Paris, and continued to simmer until it erupted on Friday night in Bordeaux.
The balmy southwestern French city is more associated with its superb red wines – the best of them have been certified as Grand Cru Classé since 1855 and are renowned worldwide – than for soccer violence. (AP)
