Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe will not lose sleep over the comments made about him to the press – otherwise he’d no doubt be condemned to insomnia. Nevertheless, he continues to take shots over his own statements made ahead of the World Cup in 2022.
The French forward claimed that South American football was behind that of its European counterparts, with many anticipating a strong performance at the World Cup.
“Argentina and Brazil don’t play high-level matches to get to the World Cup. There, football is not as advanced as in Europe. That’s why the Europeans always win,” Diario AS recall.
Recently, Uruguay have been crowned champions of the under-20 World Cup, as they seek to usher in a new generation. After beating Italy in the final, head of the Uruguayan Football Association Ignacio Alonso remembered Mbappe’s words in the aftermath.
“Mbappe was wrong. You have to be more positive and you have to think that we are just as strong as other continents because football was born here.”
“We showed that we can be competitive and that we can win. We unquestionably defeated a superpower [Italy], a team that beat Brazil, and has been inspirational. We beat countries from every continent. It’s historic.”
Meanwhile Chiqui Tapia of the Argentine Football Association, who did exit the competition earlier did not miss a chance to get his rebuke in.
“Argentina are world champions in the seniors. Uruguay is under-20 champion. Brazil are under-17 and Olympic champion. But how? If Mbappé said that in South America the teams weren’t any good.”
Image via REUTERS/Angelika Warmuth
