There seems to be another controversy brewing at French National Team, and Kylian Mbappe, the country’s most popular footballer, has added fuel to the fire with his tweet. Mbappe slammed the France FA president Noel Le Graet for his dismissive remarks on Zinedine Zidane at the national team.

“Zidane is France, you don’t disrespect a legend like that,” tweeted Mbappe, who is currently on a mini-vacation, on Monday.

Zidane was in the scheme of things to replace the current manager Didier Deschamps after the 2022 World Cup. But France’s performance in the tournament convinced the federation to extend Deschamps’ contract till the next World Cup in 2026.

Despite a couple of high-profile injuries and a relatively inexperienced midfield, France sailed to the final of the World Cup, where they suffered a close defeat to Argentina.

In a talk show hosted by RMC Sports, Le Graët was asked about the rumors of Zidane in the race to succeed Tite as the manager of the Brazilian national team. Le Graët responded that he couldn’t care less about this development. He also added that Zidane was never approached to take over the reins of the French team from Deschamps.

“I don’t care, he can go where he wants. He can go where he wants, in a club or a national team, I hardly believe it as far as he is concerned,” says Le Graët to RMC Sports. “Zidane was always under the radar. He had a lot of followers; some were
waiting for Deschamps to leave. But who can seriously criticize Deschamps? No one can. There have not been many problems. His departure always generates clicks.”

Le Graët has drawn ruthless criticism for his condescending remarks on Zidane, the World Cup-winning footballer, who also went on to win two Champions League titles with Real Madrid. Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, the sports minister of the country, asked Le Graët to apologize for disrespecting the legendary footballer.

“A shameful lack of respect, which hurts us all, toward a legend of our sport,” Oudéa- Castéra wrote on Twitter. “A ‘president’ of the top sporting federation in France should not say that. Apologies, please, for going too far on Zidane.”

Lead Image: PSG