Kylian Mbappe walking off with the golden boot as Argentina Wins World Cup (Credit: Twitter)
Kylian Mbappe found himself making headlines for his comments on South American soccer a few months ago.
The 23-year-old Frenchman made some controversial comments about South American soccer that did not go down well with South American soccer fans.
France last faced Argentina in the FIFA World Cup of 2018 where Les Bleus prevailed by scoring 4 goals to Argentina’s 3. Mbappe himself netted twice on that occasion.
On 18th December 2022, however, the Argentinians won the Final of the 2022 FIFA World Cup against a French side led in attack by Mbappe. The 23-year-old himself scored a hat trick to bring his team back into the contest after France had fallen behind on two occasions. However, La Albiceleste won the game on penalties after the conventional 90 minutes were insufficient, and so were the extra 30 minutes of playing time.
Fans have now speculated that not only did Leo Messi‘s side use Mbappe’s comments from a few months ago as motivation but also used their victory to display to the soccer world just how wrong Mbappe was.
"A minute of silence for … Mbappe!" 😅
Emiliano Martinez during Argentina's dressing room celebration.
(via nicolasotamendi30/Instagram) pic.twitter.com/dwm3IrUNWG
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) December 18, 2022
A video of the Argentinian dressing room surfaced where Golden Glove winner Emiliano Martinez halted Argentina’s celebration in the dressing room to taunt the Frenchman with a “minute of silence for Mbappe.”
This is what the PSG attacker had to say about South American Soccer. He added, “South American teams have disadvantages because they don’t have the same level of competition as European teams. Argentina and Brazil don’t play matches at a high level to get to the World Cup. Football is not as advanced as it is in Europe. That’s what you saw in recent World Cups.”
Yes, you are right. South American football is not advanced, it's from another world! #Argentina #WorldCupFinal #GraciasMessi #Mbappe𓃵 pic.twitter.com/eADcRnlUup
— Anto Tiezzi (@antotiezzi) December 18, 2022
The context in which Mbappe made these comments was to explain that European Nations have an advantage as they regularly play each other in the Nations League and high-pressure friendlies, whereas the same cannot be said for the South American nations.
The France soccer star’s comments have certainly not aged well and fans have grabbed this opportunity to mock him.
All sorts of mockery at Mbappe’s expense has surfaced online.
"In South America football isn't as advanced as Europe." – @KMbappe pic.twitter.com/xXCEVw7CSR
— Alan rodriguez (@Arod0496) December 18, 2022
I want to hear @KMbappe saying that South America's soccer is a low level league.
Repeat after me Mbappe:
MEDIALUNA, not croissant! pic.twitter.com/1Zv5RlriHE
— Julio Peñalver O. (@PenalverJulio1) December 18, 2022
"In South America, soccer is not as advanced as in Europe, that's why when you look at the latest World Cups it's always Europeans who win"
In your face @KMbappe "When you're mouthy these things happen" 👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/Z0x0wuaKSV
— CriptoGirl WHITE pool 🤍 (@CriptogirlB) December 18, 2022
Headline reads:
"In South America, fútbol is not ad advanced as it is in Europe"
This is what being a young and inexperienced talent sounds like.
Eating these words now @KMbappe pic.twitter.com/TlPj3CW6U1
— DemiDogeSeabass🇺🇲🤙🏾🇨🇴 (@SeabassMontoya) December 18, 2022
“Mbappe is eating his words now,” one fan wrote.
“It’s medialunas not croissant,” another said.
Other responses included pictures of the Argentine squad lifting the World Cup, captioned with Mbappe’s comments, making it clear that it is a taunt.
“These things happen when you’re too mouthy,” is also something a fan tweeted post-Argentina’s win.
Even though the fans have expressed their feelings on the internet after Argentina’s win, many senior South American players like Fabinho had previously responded to Mbappe’s comments when he first made the controversial claim.
The South American soccer players disclosed the difficulties of playing in the continent and made it clear that it is, oftentimes, much more difficult to qualify for the World Cup when one is playing in South America due to the sheer level of difficulty and intense competition.
Pursuing his bachelor’s degree in law from Amity University, Parth Tiwari is a Soccer writer at Sportsmanor. Besides playing the beautiful game, he also dabbles in the world of chess.
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