Arsenal legend Thierry Henry breaks silence on France’s outrageous 30-man brawl with Argentina at Olympics 2024
THIERRY HENRY has broken his silence on France’s “unacceptable” behaviour during their 30-man brawl with Argentina at the Paris Olympics.
Henry’s young French side narrowly beat two-time gold medallists Argentina 1-0, but the game was marred by boiling tensions on the full-time whistle.
In-so-doing France effectively avenged the nation’s penalty shootout defeat in the Qatar World Cup final.
But their rivalry was re-fuelled by a video showing many Argentina players singing a chant labelled as racist at French stars.
But France’s Olympic triumph, thanks to a fifth-minute goal from Crystal Palace‘s Jean-Philippe Mateta, was tarnished after the full-time whistle.
As players and staff of both sides were involved in a brawl on the pitch just moments after the referee called time on the game.
There was clear pushing and shoving as a group of Argentine players confronted France star Enzo Millot – who was later shown a red card for his antics in the bust-up.
And French manager Henry issued a grovelling apology and a damning assessment of the behaviour of his side.
The Arsenal legend told Argentine broadcaster TyC Sports: “I do not agree with what happened at the end.
“I apologise for the final disturbance. It’s not what I wanted and I couldn’t control it.
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“One of my players got a red card and I don’t accept that, it shouldn’t happen. I went to shake (Argentine coach Javier) Mascherano’s hand and, when I turned around, it had happened.”
France play Egypt on Monday for a place in the final in a bid to win their first Olympic football gold medal in 40 years.
The brawl followed a race row between Argentina and France last month.
Argentina star Enzo Fernandez, who is not in the Olympic squad, live streamed a video of himself and his national teammates singing an offensive chant about the French national side following their Copa America glory this summer.
The vile chant appeared to take aim at the French national team and dates back to the 2022 World Cup, when Argentina beat France in the final on penalties.
Appearing on live TV back then, some fans from the South American country sang an offensive chant that alluded to a number of the French stars’ African heritage.
And in Fernandez’s Instagram video, he and his team-mates could be heard to sing the sickening words during their celebrations.
Fernandez’s Chelsea teammate Wesley Fofana, who is French and the son of an Ivorian father, took to social media to slam the clip as “racism”.
Fernandez has since issued an apology online to those who saw the video, as well as a private apology to his Chelsea teammates.
And Fofana revealed that he and Fernandez have made up, explaining that the South American is “not racist”.
During the Argentine national anthem, loud boos could be heard from the home supporters.
