Emiliano Martinez, the goalkeeper for Argentina, reacted angrily to Kylian Mbappe’s assertion that European football is superior to South American football ahead of the scheduled World Cup final.
Seven months after Mbappe said South American football was “less advanced” than in Europe, the two countries will face off on Sunday for a place in history.
The Frenchman said, “The advantage we have in Europe is that we play among ourselves with high-level matches all the time, such as the Nations League, for example.”
“When we arrive at the World Cup, we are ready, where Brazil and Argentina do not have this level in South America. Football is not as advanced as in Europe. That’s why at the last World Cups, it’s always the Europeans who win.”
A few South American athletes objected to Mbappe’s remarks, and Martinez voiced his annoyance before Sunday’s World Cup final.
“He doesn’t know enough about football,” Martinez said bluntly when asked about Mbappe’s words.
“He never played in South America. When you don’t have this experience, it may be better not to talk about it. But it doesn’t matter. We are a great team, recognised as such.”
Martinez is not the first Argentine to disagree with Mbappe’s assertions; Lionel Messi cited the difficulties of playing in South America as proof of their difficulties.
“Many times we talked about that in Spain,” Messi told TyC Sports earlier this year. “When we returned from a qualifier, we told them: ‘You don’t know how difficult it would be for you to qualify for the World Cup if you had to go there, at altitude, in the heat, in Venezuela’.”
