Mbappé was joined by several other French stars
Kylian Mbappé is one of many French stars to publicly come out in support of Zinedine Zidane after France’s football federation (FFF) president, Noël Le Graët said he wouldn't ever appoint him as head coach of the national team.
The FFF announced that Didier Deschamps had been given a contract extension after leading France to back-to-back World Cup finals, where they were unable to defend their crown this time, losing to Argentina in Qatar.
Zidane has been heavily linked with the role and was the favourite to take over if Deschamps stepped aside, but it appears that Le Graët has other ideas.
"I know very well that Zidane was always on the radar. He had a lot of supporters; some were waiting for Deschamps’s departure. But who can make serious reproaches to Deschamps? Nobody," he told
RMC.
"He [Zidane] does what he wants; it’s none of my business. I’ve never met him, we’ve never considered parting with Didier. He can go where he wants, to a club ... If Zidane tried to contact me? Certainly not, I wouldn’t even pick up the phone."
https://twitter.com/RMCsport/status/1612163717222785024
Le Graët's comments haven't sat well with many of the current and former French national team players and some have taken to social media to voice their disapproval at the "disrespectful" comments.
Mbappé is one of those. He said: "Zidane is France, we don't disrespect the legend like that.."
https://twitter.com/KMbappe/status/1612192341812445191
France's minister for sports, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, was another who called out the FFF president's comments.
"Yet more out-of-touch comments and on top of that a shameful lack of respect, which hurts us all, towards a legend of football and sport," she tweeted.
https://twitter.com/AOC1978/status/1612204154394492933
Real Madrid also came out in defiant support of their former player and manager - who made history by becoming the first coach to win the Champions League three times in a row with Los Blancos.
Madrid said that the "remarks show a lack of respect for one of the most admired figures by football fans around the world" and that they want an "immediate correction".
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