Thierry Henry was furious with a red card shown to midfielder Enzo Millot after Les Bleus’ victory over Argentina at the Olympics. A mass brawl between the two nations broke out after the final whistle, with Millot shown red.
Jean-Philippe Mateta struck the only goal of the game after just six minutes. Tensions between the two sets of players have reached boiling point over the last few weeks.
The match between the Olympic teams of France and Argentina comes only weeks after Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez filmed himself and his team-mates singing a racist and transphobic chant aimed at the French.
French defender Wesley Fofana, Fernandez’s Chelsea colleague, slammed the lyrics as "uninhibited racism". Tempers subsequently flared at the Olympics, although Millot was the only player shown a red card following the brawl.
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“I don’t agree with what happened at the end of the match. My player [Millot] got a red card and I don’t accept it, it shouldn’t happen,” Henry said.
“I couldn’t control what happened. I went to greet the coach and when I turned around, what happened, happened. We won, but I didn’t like what happened at the end with my player.”
Veteran Argentina captain Nicolas Otamendi was involved in the brawl and called out rival Loic Bade. he felt that the Frenchman was celebrating in front of the Argentinian players’ family members.
“I am very angry that they went to where the family members were to celebrate in his face,” Otamendi reflected.
“That ‘Balde’, ‘Bade’, if he feels like celebrating, let him come to where we are and we will solve it there. We’ll talk about whatever we have to talk about.”
Neither Fernandez nor Fofana are at the Olympics, although the strong feelings harboured in response to his video have reportedly spread throughout the squads of the two nations.
Both players have returned to pre-season with Chelsea and Fernandez is understood to have apologised to his team-mates.
The midfielder is due to make a charitable donation, of which Chelsea will match. Manager Enzo Maresca insists he is keen to move on from the episode, which he inherited upon becoming the new Blues head coach.
Meanwhile, Mateta's flying header put France into the Olympic semi-finals. Michael Olise had a late goal harshly disallowed after VAR believed there had been a foul in the build-up.
Henry's side will face Egypt in the last-four and could meet either Spain or Morocco in the final.
