Paris Saint-Germain and France superstar Kylian Mbappe has pledged his solidarity with football legend Zinedine Zidane following the egoistic remarks by French Football Federation president Noël Le Graët.
This after Le Graët publicly said he would not pick up the phone if Zidane, the former France and Real Madrid midfielder, called him to discuss coaching the national team.
The football federation announced at the weekend that it would extend the contract of Didier Deschamps as head coach of the national team until June 2026, after Zidane was tipped to take over as the coach of the national team.
La Fédération Française de Football et Noël Le Graët, son président, sont heureux d’annoncer la prolongation de 𝗗𝗶𝗱𝗶𝗲𝗿 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀 à la tête de l’Équipe de France jusqu’au mois de juin 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 ✍️
➡️ https://t.co/4CawVszXsS#FiersdetreBleus pic.twitter.com/W2YV4bOVf3
— Equipe de France ⭐⭐ (@equipedefrance) January 7, 2023
Deschamps and his charges were close to defending their world cup title when they lost 4-2 on penalties against Lionel Messi’s Argentina in the 2022 Fifa World Cup final in Qatar in December.
In an interview with RMC Sport on Zidane likely to coach Brazil instead of Le Bleu, Le Graët said: “I don’t give a damn; he can go wherever he wants.
“I know very well that Zidane was always on the radar. He had a lot of supporters, some were waiting for Deschamps’ departure, but who can make serious reproaches to Deschamps? Nobody.
“He [Zidane] does what he wants, it’s none of my business. I’ve never met him, and we’ve never considered parting with Didier. He can go where he wants. If Zidane tried to contact me? Certainly not, I wouldn’t even pick up the phone.”
Le Graët’s controversial remarks caught the attention of Mbappe, who took to Twitter and slammed the French Football Federation president.
“Zidane is France, we don’t disrespect the legend like that,” Mbappe wrote in a Twitter post.
Zidane c’est la France, on manque pas de respect à la légende comme ça… 🤦🏽♂️
— Kylian Mbappé (@KMbappe) January 8, 2023
Other football legends also showed support for Zizou, as Zidane is affectionately known.
Moi quand j ai entendu les propos de le Graët pic.twitter.com/FYimBk1wpf
— Djibril Cisse (@DjibrilCisse) January 8, 2023
Tu me régales😳🤦🏻♂️. En revanche, il va falloir songer à consulter rapidement. 🤨
Zizou🇫🇷🤫— Franck Ribéry (@FranckRibery) January 8, 2023
According to French journalist Mohamed Bouhafsi, Le Graët is expected to apologise publicly to Zidane via an urgent press release by the football federation.
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