Topics: Kylian Mbappe, Emiliano Martinez, France, Argentina, Football
France have launched an official complaint over Emiliano Martinez for his brutal taunts of Kylian Mbappe following the World Cup final.
The 30-year-old staged a 'moment's of silence' for Mbappe as he mocked the forward following Argentina's dramatic victory over France in the World Cup final.
He was then spotted carrying around a doll with the 24-year-old's face taped to it during the open-top bus parade in Buenos Aires.
Martinez's actions have gone 'too far' for Noel Le Graet, president of the French FA, as he has written a formal letter of complaint.
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"I wrote to my counterpart from the Argentine Federation, I find these excesses abnormal, in the context of a sports competition, and I find it difficult to understand," he said.
"This is going too far. Mbappe's behaviour has been exemplary."
Martinez has been slammed for his cruel trolling of Mbappe, with former France defender Adil Ramy pulling no punches on social media.
He called the Aston Villa star 'the biggest son of a b***h in football' and 'the most hated man' in an explosive social media post.
As for his antics during the penalty shootout, Chris Sutton thought it was 'despicable'.
"I wasn’t overly enamoured with Martinez’s antics in the shootout," he told The Mail.
"I thought it was a pretty despicable thing to do (throwing the ball away). I can understand the mind games and heat of the moment you do whatever it takes.
"But I thought that was totally unnecessary. If you’re Tchouameni walking past Martinez (in the guard of honour) you probably feel like biffing him one.
"I didn’t like that at all but I can understand Martinez in that moment trying to win a World Cup.
"But he didn’t just chuck it a couple of yards away, he launched it 15, 20 yards away. I really felt for Tchouameni in that moment.
"That wasn’t on. It would have been interesting if Martinez had been booked for that because he got one on the next penalty."
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