BORDEAUX, France — France players say they used an offensive song about their heritage as motivation to beat soccer rival Argentina at the Paris Olympics.
Players from both sides clashed on the field immediately after France’s 1-0 quarterfinal victory. To many observers the fracas seemed inevitable.
Friday night’s game was played amid high tensions in the wake of a racism scandal following a video showing Argentina’s senior-team players celebrating after winning the Copa America last month and singing an offensive song about the African heritage of France’s players.
“A great rivalry has been created between two great soccer nations. But given what’s been said in the past few weeks our victory is there, on the field and off it,” France captain Alexandre Lacazette said. “We had in mind what was said (in the video). We had to stay focused on the Olympic Games, but maybe it did give us a little bit of extra motivation for us - and for France.”
The chief provocateur on Friday was France midfielder Enzo Millot, who admitted that he goaded the Argentines with an element of payback for that video.
“I went to celebrate the victory in front of their bench, yes, it was to wind them up a bit,” he said. “We were thinking about it (the video), it spurred us on.”
Striker Jean-Philippe Mateta, who scored France’s goal with a powerful early header, concurred.
“The controversy? Yes, maybe that did serve to motivate us,” he said. “You know the Argentines, they wanted to spoil the party. But you can’t spoil the party, they made it even better.”
Argentina’s players chased Millot around the field as the situation threatened to spiral out of control, before things calmed down after a couple of wild minutes.
“As soon as we saw who we were playing we were glad to be playing against them,” said Millot, who plays for Stuttgart in Germany’s Bundesliga. “It’s a good war between two nations.”
Soccer’s governing body FIFA opened an investigation into the video after the French soccer federation filed a complaint, while Premier League club Chelsea said it would deal internally with midfielder Enzo Fernandez, who was at the heart of the controversy.
“It’s a pity that such things are said in 2024,” Lacazette said, referring to the refrain. “But we have faith in FIFA.”
The fallout from that reached political levels in Argentina, led to leaders of both governments talking things through in Paris, and continued to simmer until it erupted on Friday night in Bordeaux. The balmy southwestern French city is more associated with its superb red wines - the best of them have been certified as Grand Cru Classé since 1855 and are renowned worldwide - than for soccer violence.
France’s win made it 2-1 to Les Bleus in recent meetings between the sides, but the game might be best remembered for how it ended.
“The scenes at the end represent everything you don’t want to see,” France coach Thierry Henry said. “I didn’t like what happened from our side, I can’t tolerate it.”
Argentina goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli said France’s players lacked humility.
“Sometimes we have players that don’t know how to win. It was something avoidable, not a nice image for anyone,” Rulli told the TyC network. “When we lose a match, we congratulate the opponent and leave. I think they had something boiling over for a while and they let it go today.”
Veteran Argentina defender Nicolas Otamendi, the captain, said France players were disrespectful in their celebrations.
“I’m upset,” he told TyC. “Players can celebrate however they want to, but not in front of where the fans are, the family members.”
In different circumstances, the match itself could have been the latest installment in an emerging rivalry that produced two pulsating World Cup matches in 2018 and 2022.
The first propelled Kylian Mbappé into the spotlight when he scored an incredible solo goal during a 4-3 win in the 2018 round of 16, taking center stage from Lionel Messi. France went on to win, with Mbappé scoring in the final.
Four years later, Argentina won a dramatic shootout following a thrilling 3-3 draw.
Mbappé became only the second player to score a hat trick in the World Cup final yet ended on the losing team as Messi inspired Argentina to its third World Cup title, denying France its third in the process.
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