Paraguayan Senator Escalates Feud With Kylian Mbappé as Fans Burn Effigies of France Star

A Paraguayan senator accused by France captain Kylian Mbappe of “brazen racism” has escalated her criticism of the football star with another inflammatory attack.

Celeste Amarilla posted on social media following France’s 1-0 victory over Paraguay in Saturday’s World Cup last-16 tie, directing a series of abusive remarks at Mbappe that included racist language and references to chimpanzees.

Mbappe, backed by the French Football Federation, later responded in a statement on X, describing Amarilla as “despicable” and accusing her of promoting “hatred and racism.”

Paraguay’s players had already faced widespread criticism for their conduct during the knockout match, with the South American side accused of using overly aggressive tactics, repeated fouls, exaggerated reactions and attempts to provoke the French team throughout the contest.

Mbappe, who converted the decisive penalty, was also accused by Paraguay goalkeeper Orlando Gill of refusing to shake his hand during the heated encounter — an allegation that appeared to intensify Amarilla’s anger.

‘When Orlando Gill, a young man who was probably setting foot in the World Cup for the first time, who was probably discovering Europe for the first time, was playing in front of the whole world and extended his hand with all the humility of a Paraguayan, this son of a bitch refused to shake his hand and shouted in his face,’ she declared in the Senate on Wednesday, according to RMC Sport.

‘That is not French. A Frenchman would never have done that. France is Jean-Jacques Rousseau, René Descartes, Montesquieu, Victor Hugo, Simone de Beauvoir, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. 

‘I refuse to reduce all of this immense France, as well as its immense cultural, artistic and democratic heritage, to Mbappe.’

In her vile post on social media platform X after the match, Amarilla wrote: ‘This brute hasn’t even learned to write’ before hurling racist insults at the superstar. 

‘You should’ve shown him the finger, Orlando Gill; I do it in the senate and nothing happens!!!’ 

She also wrote in a separate post, that Mbappe was ‘pretending hard to be French, resentful, newly rich, arrogant, and ugly’. 

Amarilla added: ‘He was nervous and scared to death the whole match, like his entire team; they couldn’t even score a goal, they won by a fluke… 

‘The only thing many of us demanded of the Albirroja is not to have slapped him open-handed after the match ended. And that’s despite not being a soccer fan.’

Since Paraguay’s shameful World Cup exit, some fans of the national team have been filmed publicly burning effigies of the France star.

A group of Paraguayans erected and torched an effigy of Mbappe during the ‘San Juan’ festivities, where it is tradition to burn a doll currently representing the most hated person across the entire country. 

Mbappe furiously responded to Amarilla’s astonishing tirade with his own statement on Monday, which read: ‘Madame Celeste Amarilla, You are a despicable woman and unworthy of your position. You do not represent Paraguay, that country which has sweated passion and honour throughout the competition.

‘Through your recklessness and your brazen racism, the entire world has already forgotten the journey and the historic effort that your players accomplished during this World Cup, making way for an incompetent woman who gives the worst possible image of her country. 

‘I will never allow people like her the freedom to spread their hatred and racism across the world.’

French Football Federation president Philippe Diallo also threw his support behind Mbappe and posted: ‘The racist remarks by Paraguayan Senator Celeste Amarilla targeting Kylian Mbappe are criminal and reprehensible. 

‘They must be prosecuted here as elsewhere. The FFF is filing a report with the prosecutor’s office for the purpose of judicial proceedings.

‘I offer my full support to our captain, to the players, and more generally to all the victims of such odious remarks. The players of the French national team represent France; it is our country that is insulted.’

Paraguay’s dirty tactics included various incidents during the match, from scuffing up the penalty spot, elbowing Dayot Upamecano in the ribs, palming Jules Kounde‘s face, trying to get Michael Olise sent off with outrageous play-acting and somehow ending up without a single booking from Uzbek referee Ilgiz Tantashev. 

After the tempestuous match, BBC pundit Joe Hart branded Paraguay’s players ‘an absolute disgrace’, while French newspaper L’Equipe slapped Tantashev with a brutal 1/10 rating for failing to seize control of the occasion. 

In a tense flashpoint of the match, goalkeeper Gill was left furious after Mbappe refused to shake his hands while celebrating in front of the French fans.

Gill reacted furiously, throwing the ball at Mbappe’s back before he walked over to the centre circle, where another melee took place. 

Speaking after the match, Gill fumed: ‘Kylian Mbappe has p***ed me off. I stretched my hand to congratulate him, but he ignored me.

‘This is football, if they’re not used to this, what can we do? Paraguay is like that, it’s a tough team.

‘From the first moment we set out to make ourselves felt on the field, that if the ball gets through, the man doesn’t.’

Speaking about the controversial encounter, Mbappe hailed his side and said they are prepared to win via any method at this World Cup.    

‘We knew what kind of game we were going to have. We showed that we were not just a team that knows how to play offensive football,’ he said.

‘They thought we’d come wearing tuxedos, doing great plays, one-twos and whatnot. It’s their way of playing.’