Paris Olympics: How a football victory celebration and racist chants fuelled bitter France-Argentina bad blood

Thierry Henry and Javier Mascherano were men of calm disposition in their playing days. A svelte forward and a slick defensive midfielder, whose careers in the English Premier League and with Barcelona overlapped rather than intersected, have led the youth-centric teams of their nations, France and Argentina, to the quarterfinal of the Olympics. It would have been just another obscure Olympic match in normal circumstances, but not when Paris is burning with hate to all things Argentine.

It used to be different back then, both Henry and Mascherano may sigh. Both were proud and decorated footballing nations, men of both nations had a big numerical presence in the top leagues of Europe, yet they seldom nursed a sentiment of antipathy. Whether it’s the busy waters of River Seine during the opening parade, the red clay of Roland Garros, the silvery sands of the makeshift beach volleyball court overlooking the Eiffel Tower, or the football baize of Saint-Etienne, a steady soundtrack of boos has accompanied Argentina’s athletes. “Argentina is the enemy in France,” blared a headline in Argentine newspaper Clarín.

The anthem is sneered at, the blue-white-and-gold shirt sniggered at, and athletes smirked. In Argentina’s opening match against Kenya in Rugby 7s, the sparse audience came with a life-size red card and started jeering them till the final whistle.

“We got whistled right from the start of the tournament without really knowing why,” said a bemused Santiago Mare, one of the Argentine players. They would soon know why as the 80,000 spectators wove a web of hostility at Stade de France, showering insults every time an Argentine touched the ball. “It was one of the most hostile atmospheres in which we have played a game,” Mare would say. When Argentina lost, France celebrated, and they would eventually claim a gold medal too, beating Fiji in the final. There was another subplot behind the animosity — two French players were arrested in Argentina on accusations of sexual assault last year.

But the real epicentre was a football game — and there the nascent yet feverish rivalry returns on Saturday night. One that was played 20 months ago in Qatar, widely considered the most thrilling final in World Cup history.

Roots in recent history

A Kylian Mbappe hat-trick, Lionel Messi realising his destiny, and some incredibly edge-of-the-seat football. But the French players had complained that a section of Argentina supporters were spewing racist chants, roughly translated as “how certain French players had African ancestry or were first- or second-generation immigrants.” “This is the dark side of Argentina’s World Cup (win)” France legend Patrick Vieira would note.

Argentines would retort that France, their fans, pundits and former players, were plainly jealous. The French waited for payback time, and goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, the chief villain in the piece, was booed when he visited Paris for the Ballon d’Or function last year.

But with time, the embers of rage seemed to extinguish, before Enzo Fernandez refuelled them after winning the COPA America last month. In a 48-second live stream, he and some of his teammates could be seen singing a blatantly racist song, when they seemingly had little business in needling France.

Here is Enzo Fernandez and Argentina players celebrating that Copa America win by singing that racist France chant from the 2022 World Cup pic.twitter.com/pxoaX2MApE

— GC (@ValverdeSZN) July 15, 2024

In the backdrop, one could hear a voice of prudence shouting: “Corta el vivo, corta el vivo.” It meant “stop the video”. No one listened, and thus sprung a unique rivalry that has strayed not from the staple tropes (of shared borders, coloniser/colonised or controversial decisions on the field), but from victory celebrations.

Fernandez’s French club-mates immediately unfollowed him on social media platforms. The Argentine soon apologised and reached out to some of them at Chelsea. But what intensified the friction was how Argentina defended Fernandez.

Vice-president Victoria Villarruel would post on X: “No colonialist country is going to intimidate us for a song on the pitch or for telling the truths they don’t want to admit. Argentina is a sovereign and free country. We never had colonies or second-class citizens. We have never imposed our way of life on anyone.”

President Javier Milei, a right-wing populist, sacked the undersecretary of sport, Julio Garro, for suggesting that team captain Messi apologise for the chants “No government can tell the world champion and two-time South American champions, Argentina national team or any citizen, what to say. For this reason, Julio Garro is no longer the undersecretary of sport.” the presidential office wrote on X.

The rancour began to shake diplomatic ties as well. The presidents —Milei and Emmanuel Macron — met a day before the Games and claimed they had buried the differences over the chants. Yet, the discord has returned, and worst perhaps may surface when they duel on the football field. None of France’s roster in the 2022 final would feature in the quarterfinal, though four from Argentina would.

Henry and Mascherano find themselves in the eye of a most unusual rivalry that would test their calm demeanours.

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