Argentina have made a lot of enemies during their successful Qatar 2022 campaign. While millions were rooting for Lionel Messi to win his first FIFA World Cup, the Argentine players' behavior throughout the tournament sparked a lot of controversy.
It all started when they beat the Netherlands in a very heated game, as they celebrated the shootout win on the Dutch players' faces. After beating France in the final, they kept on forging a reputation as bad winners.
Kylian Mbappe became a target of mockery by the Argentine team, especially by goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, who called for a "minute of silence" for the PSG star in the locker room celebrations before holding a baby doll with Mbappe's face on it during the open-top bus parade. Therefore, French Sports minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra branded Argentina as "inelegant winners."
French sports minister blast Argentina, singles out Emiliano Martinez
“As much as our French team knew how to lose with panache, the way this Argentine team acted after the victory is not worthy of the match we saw," Oudéa-Castéra told French radio station RTL.
“I find it pitiful,” she added in regard to Martinez's mockery of Mbappe. “It’s just vulgar, inappropriate, really not up to the occasion. This Emiliano Martinez is not distinguishing himself. It is rather pathetic. They are inelegant winners."
Oudéa-Castéra echoes the sentiment expressed by the Minister of Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire, who said FIFA should investigate the Argentine team's attitude, and by Karl Olive, who even suggested the governing body should strip Martinez of the Golden Glove award. Meanwhile, the FFF president Noël Le Graët wrote to AFA president Claudio Tapia over the Argentine players' disrespectful behavior.
