Lewis Hamilton speaks against racist attacks on black French players after World Cup final defeat against Lionel Messi’s Argentina

Tanish Chachra | 22/12/2022
Lewis Hamilton speaks against racist attacks on black French players after World Cup final defeat against Lionel Messi's Argentina

The FIFA World cup final was a spectacular clash between two international giants. Despite the mammoth lead for the first 80 minutes of the game, things got troublesome for Argentina when Kylian Mbappe inspired his side to make a comeback with a brace.

The game didn’t see a change in the scoreline till the full-time, and it went into the extra time. It was even more exciting as things remained tied up as Lionel Messi and Mbappe scored one goal each for their respective sides.

The contest was resolved at penalties which Argentina won and clinched their third world title. However, the internet can be ugly, as some black French players were victims of racist attacks by the angered fans of the losing side.

Also read: Mick Schumacher to join forces with his godfather Sebastian Vettel for this legendary tournament

Lewis Hamilton speaks against racist attacks on French players

After the game, among all the players of colour in the French national team, Aurelien Tchouameni and Kolo Muani were the biggest victims of the online abuse as the former missed a chance at a goal after a spectacular save by Emiliano Martinez.

Whereas, Tchouameni got racist attacks as he missed a penalty during the shootouts,  which along with Kingsley Coman’s miss, ultimately became the reason for France’s loss.

But it still doesn’t justify a wave of racist attacks, and that’s why the seven-time F1 champion took to the internet to speak against the attacks after posting a story on Instagram. “Disgusted but not surprised,” wrote Hamilton.

The Mercedes driver further wrote that the two French players gave everything on the field and were heroes. He claims the due deserve nothing but respect.

Racist abuse against athletes of colour isn’t subsiding

Despite all the awareness and causes taken by different sports to minimize racism. A large section of fans racially abuse players of colour whenever they fail to perform or fall short of expectations.

The aftermath of the world cup final defeat is a big exhibition of that. Even Mbappe, who became the only player to score a hattrick in a world cup final with his performance on Sunday, was also not spared.

Hamilton himself experienced the same abuse by a few fans of his rival Max Verstappen over the past two years whenever there were collisions or tensions between the two sides. Even former F1 driver Nelson Piquet has been accused of calling Hamilton with a racist remark.

Also read: Helmut Marko fears Mercedes’ strong comeback with 7x world champion Lewis Hamilton

Post Edited By: Tanish Chachra
Lewis Hamilton Lionel Messi Mercedes

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

Don’t miss these