Mbappé fires France past Paraguay as racist backlash erupts

Through to the quarters, but Paraguay made it ugly

France are into the World Cup quarter-finals after a 1–0 win over Paraguay in the Round of 16 on Saturday (1). That is the headline. The match itself was something else entirely, Paraguay spent most of it on the wrong side of fair play. Didier Deschamps' side kept their heads while the opposition lost theirs, and France walked away with the FIFA Fair Play award for the round (1). Kylian Mbappé got the goal, and the win, and then the aftermath turned poisonous.

Paraguayan senator aims racist attack at Mbappé

A Paraguayan senator, Celeste Josefina Amarilla, posted a stream of racist abuse about Kylian Mbappé after the final whistle. "Au lieu de téter le lait maternel, il tétait des noix de coco", instead of breast milk, he sucked on coconuts, she wrote, calling him colonized, resentful, and ugly (2). She also claimed he never learned to write and that the most educated creatures he ever heard were chimpanzees. A sitting elected official. The post has drawn widespread condemnation.

Fan reactions

The Reddit thread on Amarilla's comments is a flood of disbelief. More than anger, there is genuine shock that a senator would publish something so openly racist. Several users point out the irony of a public official attacking a French World Cup hero's Frenchness while her own country just lost to him. Read the full discussion here.