By Rohith Nair
MIAMI, July 6 (Reuters) – France striker Kylian Mbappe hit back at a Paraguayan senator, describing her as a “despicable woman” on Monday after she launched a racist attack on him following Paraguay’s elimination from the World Cup.
Mbappe’s penalty proved the difference in a bruising and ill-tempered match as France won 1-0 in Philadelphia on Saturday to advance to the quarter-finals.
Celeste Amarilla wrote a long, slur-filled racist tirade on X, describing Mbappe as a “colonised Cameroonian, desperately trying to pass himself off as French,” and as a “brute” who had not learned to write. Paraguay’s players should have slapped him after the match, she added.
Mbappe, the France captain, responded with a strongly worded statement defending not only himself but also the Paraguay players.
“Madame Celeste Amarilla, you are a despicable woman and unworthy of your position. You do not represent Paraguay, that country which has sweated passion and honour throughout the competition,” he wrote.
“Through your recklessness and your brazen racism, the entire world has already forgotten the journey and the historic effort that your players accomplished during this World Cup, making way for an incompetent woman who gives the worst possible image of her country.
“I will never allow people like her the freedom to spread their hatred and racism across the world.”
The French Football Federation (FFF) escalated the matter, announcing plans to file criminal charges, describing her remarks as “utterly abhorrent and unacceptable”.
“These remarks are criminal and reprehensible. They must be prosecuted here as elsewhere. The FFF is reporting the matter to the public prosecutor’s office with a view to legal proceedings,” it said.
“These remarks bring shame upon those who make them and those who disseminate them. The players of the French national team represent France; it is our country that is being insulted.”
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Miami, editing by Ed Osmond)
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