In the early morning of December 19, Beijing time, the 2022 Qatar World Cup final ended, the defending champion France lost 5:7 to Argentina, and the top star of the French team, Mbappe, who scored a hat-trick, finally failed to prevent Messi from lifting the Hercules Cup.
After the game, the rising star of football could not hide his loss, and French President Emmanuel Macron tried to comfort him on the pitch several times. Whether Macron's move played a role is unknown, but many foreign netizens have expressed disagreement and dissatisfaction. Some have bluntly called Macron's behavior "untimely" and "embarrassing", while others have criticized Macron for his political showmanship, which makes Mbappe "feel worse".
French President Emmanuel Macron comforts Mbappe after the game
At 11 pm Beijing time on the 18th, the much-anticipated final of the 2022 Qatar World Cup was staged at the Lucerle Stadium, and after 28 days of competition, the "Gallic Roosters" France and the "Pampas Eagles" Argentina team competed for the final ownership of the Hercules Cup.
However, in the 79th minute of regular time, Argentine star Lionel Messi broke the deadlock with a penalty when Di Maria received a cross from the edge of the box from his teammate and scored a powerful shot to give his team a 2-0 lead over France, who uncharacteristically did not score a goal. Until the 80th minute, France's top star Kylian Mbappe stepped up and scored less than two goals in two minutes to equalize the score to 2-2 and enter extra time.
Mbappe, pictured: IC Photo
In the 109th minute of extra time, Lautaro's shot was saved, and Messi scored twice. France scored another penalty in the final minute when Kylian Mbappe scored from the penalty to make it 3-3 in extra time, and the less than 24-year-old footballer scored a hat-trick to equalise again to extend France's life until the penalty shootout.
Unfortunately, despite Kylian Mbappe's first penalty shoot-out, France lost 2-4, and Messi also opened the penalty for Argentina, but his teammates scored penalties. In the end, France missed out on aggregate 5-7, while Argentina won the World Cup again after 36 years, the third time in the team's history. Messi got his wish, lifting the Hercules Cup for the first time in his career, winning the title he had never been able to win.
Messi kisses the Hercules Cup after the game, pictured: IC Photo
As Argentina cheered and celebrated, Mbappe, who had previously performed heroism, sat dazed on the pitch, followed by French President Emmanuel Macron, who had traveled to Qatar to watch the match, and tried to comfort him.
From the live video and photos, you can see that Macron put his arm around Mbappe, head to head to express comfort, and then he put his hand on Mbappe's shoulder and said something to him.
After that, Argentine goalkeeper Martinez came over. He patted Mbappe's arm, touched his face, spoke to Mbappe, then pulled Mbappe up from the ground and left.
Macron on the side pulled Mbappe again at this time, hugged his head, patted him on the back, and then put his arm around Mbappe's shoulders and walked and talked.
In addition, at the post-match award ceremony, the French president once again tried to comfort Mbappe, who was winning the World Cup Golden Boot for scoring eight goals in seven games, becoming the first French player to win this award in 64 years.
Macron's repeated comforting gestures expressed his support for the rising star, and in an interview with French media outlet RMC after the game, he also repeatedly praised Mbappe: "What Mbappe has done is amazing, the whole team. Mbappe is a great player, but he's young. I told him he was only 23 years old, he was the top scorer in the World Cup, he had won the World Cup, he had reached the final. I was as sad as he was. But I told him that he made us very proud and we ended up losing a football game, but we were very close to success. That's sports. ”
However, many foreign netizens did not use Macron's actions, on the contrary, they expressed their disapproval and dissatisfaction on social media.
One high praise complained, "Mbappe very much wants to get rid of Macron, but Macron will not let him go." ”
Another complain was, "I really sympathize with Mbappe – first you lose the penalty, then you are comforted by Macron." ”
Someone also said, "I think Mbappe may now have a reason to issue a restraining order against Macron." ”
At the same time, many netizens bluntly said that Macron's behavior was "not timely" and pointed out that Mbappe seemed to have no psychology to meet Macron.
'Macron desperately wanted Mbappe to react, but in none of the three major attempts did the striker give him any eye contact or a chance to take pictures.
"Mbappe doesn't care about Macron at all."
"It's really not the time, friends: both Mbappe and Deschamps (the head coach of the French team) completely ignored President Macron."
Others criticized Macron's behavior as "embarrassing", saying that his political show would only make Mbappe "feel worse".
"57 seconds of embarrassment. There, a president with poor and annoying votes, is still trying to carry out a dirty, crude political restoration (canvassing votes) ... This is tough, heavy and even unbearable for Mbappe, who is really under attack by Macron. He doesn't talk to him or look at him. ”
"Macron has completely made Mbappe feel worse."
Even the British tabloid Daily Mail reported on December 18 that French President Emmanuel Macron awkwardly comforted Mbappe after losing the World Cup final, and that Mbappe "seemed desperate to get rid of Macron."
Screenshot of the British "Daily Mail" report
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