The Olympic men’s football quarter-final between France and Argentina has been described as personal to every French citizen by the striker Jean-Philippe Mateta after uproar over footage of Argentina players singing racist chants.
There have been tensions between the nations since the circulation of a video after last month’s Copa América final, in which Argentina’s squad are seen singing about French players with African heritage.
In the opening days of the Games in Paris, Argentina’s football and rugby sevens teams were roundly booed by fans and France and Argentina players have acknowledged the heightened emotions before Friday evening’s game in Bordeaux.
Mateta said the game had become a national talking point. He said: “Argentina are the last world champions, a team that always ends up in the final of the tournaments they play. With what happened recently, all the French are touched by it. We’ll see what happens in the quarter-finals.”
The French football federation filed a complaint last month with Fifa over “racist and discriminatory remarks” made by Argentina players. Similar chants had been sung by Argentina fans before France and Argentina met two years ago in the men’s World Cup final, which Argentina won.
The Argentina and Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernández, who shared a video on social media of the team singing the racist chants after the Copa América final, apologised and made a donation to an anti-discrimination charity.
One of Fernández’s Chelsea teammates, the French defender Wesley Fofana, had described the video as “uninhibited racism” when it was first published but subsequently accepted his teammate’s statement of regret.
There has been no such forgiveness shown by much of the French support in the Olympic arenas, with Argentina’s national anthem widely jeered, raising concerns of ugly scenes on Friday evening.
Argentina’s goalkeeper Gerónimo Rulli said: “We already know where we come from and how they will treat us in France, but have no doubt that we will do everything possible to carry our flag at the highest level again”.
There will be tight security around the game and the France forward Arnaud Kalimuendo said he expected an “electric match” at the 42,000-capacity Stade de Bordeaux.
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“We are focused on what we want to achieve as a group,” Rulli said. “The goal is to go all the way and we won’t go into detail about that. What happened outside, the federation takes care of that.”
France’s defensive midfielder Joris Chotard said his team would need to be focused. He said: “It could be a little revenge, let’s say; it’s up to us to take it. In any case, France-Argentina, it’s a big game and it’s a great match.”
France’s coach, the former Arsenal striker Thierry Henry, has only hinted at the background to the game and its elevated importance to some of his players. “There is another tournament starting,” he said after France’s qualification for the quarter-finals.
Source: theguardian.com
