Former Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has sparked controversy after saying that France's football team plays "without Frenchmen."
Rajoy made the comment in his latest World Cup column for El Debate, which he has been writing after each Spain match at the tournament.
In his column, titled ‘"Hoy llegó el desquite," or "today was the day for revenge" in English, Rajoy went over Spain's 2-1 quarterfinal victory over Belgium and looked ahead to La Roja's semifinal matchup against Didier Deschamps' France side on Tuesday night at 9 pm CET.
It was in that context that the former conservative prime minister, who headed the Spanish government between 2011 and 2018, made the remark.
After acknowledging that France had been world champions twice and won every match at this year's tournament, Rajoy said they have a "top-tier squad", before adding "but without Frenchmen". The comment was an apparent reference to the fact that many players in the French squad either have immigrant backgrounds or hail from former French colonies.
