Thierry Henry’s response to Argentina racism row before France’s furious bust-up

Football legend Thierry Henry refused to address the racist song belted out by Argentina stars about French footballers before a brawl erupted at the end of their Paris 2024 Olympics clash. Henry’s France side emerged 1-0 victors in Friday’s quarter-final clash with the world champions as the bad blood between the two nations spilled over into unsavoury scenes at full-time.

An early header from Crystal Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta was enough to send France through to the semi-finals. But after 11-and-a-half-minutes of additional time were played, players from both sides - including those on the bench - were involved in a bust-up at the Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux.

Animosity between the two sides has been growing since the 2022 World Cup final in Qatar, where Argentina players emerged victorious on penalties. The situation escalated further when Argentina stars were recorded singing a racist and transphobic chant directed at France after their recent Copa America triumph.

The French Football Federation responded by launching a complaint to FIFA regarding “racist and discriminatory remarks”. But France’s Olympic football head coach Henry steered away from making any comments in the build-up to the high-stakes fixture.

The Arsenal legend and 1998 World Cup winner said: "Argentina's provocations? I won't talk about it. Personally, as a coach, I have a match to prepare. No, there is a desire to only talk about the match. It's important."

Henry’s reluctance to speak on the issue was not reflective of the anger held by French players towards Argentina. Chelsea defender Wesley Fofana and Barcelona’s Jules Kounde publicly slammed those involved at the time, though the former has since reportedly forgiven his Argentine club team-mate Enzo Fernandez.

It set the scene for a spiky affair on Friday night, where the Argentine national anthem was booed before kick-off. France had to wait a long time after Mateta’s goal to have a reason to cheer again with Michael Olise’s 84th-minute goal, but VAR ruled it out.

At the final whistle, Henry was visibly annoyed on the touchline as players from both teams piled into each other, pushing and shoving while others attempted to stop the commotion. Wild scenes continued into the tunnel – and Henry confirmed that France midfielder Enzo Millot received a red card for his part in the altercation.

He fumed in an interview with France 3: “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.

"That's unnecessary, useless. He was on the bench. I'm really not happy about it. 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.”

Argentina captain Nicolas Otamendi was involved in the brawl and called out Les Bleus player Loic Bade, claiming that the Frenchman was celebrating in front of the Argentine players’ families. “I am very angry that they went to where the family members were to celebrate in his face,” the veteran 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.”

France's next opponents, Egypt, edged into the semi-finals by beating Paraguay 5-4 on penalties. Meanwhile, Morocco and Spain are set to clash in the other match after the former romped to a 4-0 victory over the USA, and Spain thumped Japan 3-0.