Kylian Mbappé scored the goal. A Paraguayan senator responded with racism. And Mbappé made sure she didn’t get away with it quietly. France’s captain scored the only goal of the match, a penalty kick in the 70th minute, as France defeated Paraguay 1-0 in the World Cup Round of 16 in Philadelphia on Saturday.
It was another defining moment in what has been a dominant tournament run for Mbappé, who now has seven goals in the competition, putting him in contention for the Golden Boot. Then came the response from the other side.
Paraguayan Senator Celeste Amarilla posted a lengthy racist tirade on X, describing Mbappé as a “colonized Cameroonian, desperately trying to pass himself off as French,” calling him a “brute” who had not learned to write, and suggesting Paraguay’s players should have physically confronted him after the match.
Madame Celeste Amarilla,
— Kylian Mbappé (@KMbappe) July 6, 2026
Vous êtes une femme méprisable et indigne de sa fonction.
Vous ne représentez pas le Paraguay, ce pays qui a transpiré la passion et l’honneur tout au long de la compétition. Par votre inconscience et votre racisme décomplexé, le monde entier a déjà… pic.twitter.com/EnYmgQXvPL
“Madame Celeste Amarilla, you are a despicable woman and unworthy of your position,” Mbappé responded (in French) on X, including her photo in the post. “You do not represent Paraguay, that country which has sweated passion and honor 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.”
In an open letter posted on social media, she retracted the racial slurs she had made about Mbappé’s origins and education but doubled down on her criticism of the Real Madrid forward, demanding an apology from Mbappé and threatening legal action, accusing him of “gender-based violence” and “political violence against a woman.”
“I am a Senator of the Paraguayan Nation, elected by the people. Who are you to call me unworthy or despicable when you do not even know me?” she wrote.
Amarilla acknowledged that her earlier posts were made “in the heat of the moment” and said she deleted them after realizing she had responded with insults she herself finds objectionable. “I immediately regretted responding to you with the same insults that I myself receive,” she wrote. “I realised I was repeating the very behaviour I despise, so I deleted the post.” She insisted, however, that Mbappé owed her a public retraction.
The French Football Federation announced plans to file a criminal complaint, describing Amarilla’s original remarks as “utterly abhorrent and unacceptable” and stating that “these remarks are criminal and reprehensible they must be prosecuted here as elsewhere.”
French President Emmanuel Macron, currently visiting Syria, backed Mbappé’s response, writing on X: “One more goal for Kylian Mbappé. This time against racism.” French Sports Minister Marina Ferrari added that by targeting Mbappé, Amarilla was “attacking everything our captain embodies and everything our country stands for: liberty, equality and fraternity.”
The Paraguayan government also moved to distance itself from Amarilla, saying it “deplores and rejects the statements” she made and that they are “contrary to the values and principles that inspire peaceful coexistence and respect for human dignity.”
Let’s be clear about what’s happening here. A senator launched a racist attack on a Black athlete. That athlete responded by naming her, holding her accountable, and defending the players of the country whose politician had embarrassed them.
And now the senator, after deleting her posts, is reframing herself as the victim. The Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed it launched a probe after the national unit for combating online hate received a complaint from the French Football Federation about aggravated public insult and incitement to hatred or violence.
Racist attacks on Black footballers at the highest levels of the sport have become an exhausting and recurring pattern, from Vinicius Jr. confronting abuse in Spain to England players being targeted after missed penalties.
Photo Credit: DepositPhotos.com
