The famous columnist Jérôme Rothen has once again poured his venom on Argentina and its national team.
The climate of tension which reigned Tuesday evening at Maracana during the Brazil – Argentina match is causing a lot of talk. Both camps blame each other for these excesses on and off the field, but it is not only in these countries that we are dissecting what happened. In France, we allow ourselves to judge and analyze. This is what Jérôme Rothen did in particular.
Rothen massacres the Argentinians
Speaking in his show for RMC Sport, the former PSG footballer chose to classify the Argentinians in the guilty camp. For him, the latter are not fighting fairly and their attitude on the green rectangle is reprehensible.
“Quite honestly when I saw the match in the morning, I was not surprised by their behavior. They’ve had it for a long time. It’s not the best team in the world, that’s for sure. There are players who are far from being the best in their positions in the world. But, on the other hand, in behavior and taking themselves for others, they are number one”he said in a furious tone.
photo credit: Panoramic
For Rothen, Messi and his Argentina teammates have become too arrogant.
Messi takes it for his rank
Rothen is also angry with Lionel Messi, who according to him does not lead by example: “And there is Messi, since he is world champion, his real personality comes out whereas he was friendly before. Today, we can no longer touch. We can’t even room anymore, even though he’s the first to do so. He never says to his teammates “we’re going too far”. Now there are ten of them in this team which sends a bad image of the Argentines.”
💥 @RothenJerome : “Argentina is not the best team in the world. On the other hand, they are number 1 in behavior, to think they are others. Starting with Messi.” #RMClive pic.twitter.com/ju1Bko2pF3
— Rothen s’igname (@Rothensenflamme) November 22, 2023
The former French international then even went so far as to put all Argentinians in the same bag: “I’m making a generalization of it. It’s the Argentinian nationality that’s like that, where you think you’re someone else and you feel superior. Even more so when you win. They could have more class. Starting by respecting a team from Brazil. They are world champions with little people.”
The World Cup coronation called into question
Finally, Rothen suggested that the Albiceleste won the World Cup in a dubious way: “They are world champions and we congratulate them for that. We had to give it to Messi, he got it, it’s very good. I say that it had to be given, because we saw that they were able to benefit at times from the 12e man with the referees. And that was the case throughout the tournament.”
