Boston [US], July 9 : Ahead of his side's FIFA World Cup clash against Morocco in the quarterfinals, France head coach Didier Deschamps said that captain Kylian Mbappe is "in a good place mentally" despite battling racism from Paraguay senator Celeste Amarilla following their tough round of 16 clash win over the South American side.
The Paraguayan Senator, following France's 1-0 win over the South American country in the FIFA World Cup round of 16, called Mbappe a "colonised Cameroonian", "pretending hard to be French, resentful, newly rich, arrogant, and ugly". Amarilla also said that France "won by a fluke and Mbappe was nervous and scared to death the whole match, like his entire team."
Her comments met an immediate response from Mbappe and the French Football Federation, with both condemning her statements. French President Emmanuel Macron and FIFA President Gianni Infantino also condemned Amarilla's remark on Mbappe.
Speaking ahead of the match, Deschamps said that the French skipper stays in good spirits and the comments from the senator have not distracted or affected the camp ahead of the all-important quarterfinal clash.
"Kylian is in a good place mentally. He's ready for tomorrow," said Deschamps as quoted by Goal.com.
The UN Human Rights office condemned Celeste's remarks on Mbappe, calling them "racist and dehumanising" and part of a wider issue of racism in football and sports.
The UN Human Rights spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan condemned the "racist" remarks against Mbappe, describing them as unacceptable and part of a broader pattern of racism and discrimination in football and sports.
"The racist and dehumanising remarks against French footballer Kylian Mbappe by Paraguayan Senator Celeste Amarilla are despicable and, regrettably, not isolated. Reports of racist incidents during the FIFA World Cup 2026 reflect a wider phenomenon across football and sports more broadly," the UN Human Rights spokesperson said as quoted by the United Nations website.
The UN Human Rights spokesperson urged public officials, governments, sports organisations, and social media platforms to take stronger measures against racism, discrimination, and hate speech while ensuring effective accountability mechanisms.
"Public officials have a heightened responsibility to stand against racism, discrimination and hate speech in their discourse. States and sports organisations must actively work to prevent acts of racism and any other form of discrimination. They should also ensure that there are independent and effective accountability mechanisms in place. Social media companies also have a responsibility to prevent and address racial discrimination and xenophobic abuse on their platforms, in accordance with international human rights standards," added the UN Human Rights spokesperson.
In an X post, the UN Human Rights also said sport should promote equality, dignity, and respect, and that dehumanising language has no place in sport or public discourse."The power of sport must be used to promote equality, dignity & respect, not hatred or dehumanisation. Language that dehumanises people because of their race or ethnic origin has no place in sport or public discourse," the UN Human Rights said on X.