Kylian Mbappe, France’s star striker, in the last-16 stage of Euro 2020 missed a penalty against Switzerland. His team lost 4-5 and were knocked out of the tournament. The 23-year-old was trolled on social media.
“It is very difficult to turn the page. I am sorry for this penalty. I wanted to help the team but I failed. Finding sleep will be difficult, but unfortunately those are the risks of the sport that I love so much,” Mbappe had said on Twitter.
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Kylian Mbappe wanted to leave the team, French Football Federation (FFF) president Noel Le Graet said in an interview with a Sunday newspaper. He spole about the lack of support the young striker had felt after the Euro elimination.
“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,” Le Graet said, adding that Mbappe ‘no longer wanted to play in the French team – which he obviously did not think’.
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However, a missed penalty was not the reason. Kylian Mbappe, who represents Paris Saint Germain in Ligue 1, on Sunday tweeted that he regretted 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. But he considered that there had been no racism…” Mbappe said.
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In September last year, the FFF president was slammed for claiming that racism in football “does not exist or hardly exists”.
England players Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka were racially abused online after they missed penalties against Italy in teh Euro 2020 final.
This week, FIFA published a report on the increase in the number of race-related insults against footballers on social media.