Paris Saint-Germain superstar Kylian Mbappe was the subject of a furious rant from an enraged Craig Burley after the attacker dived against Wales as France reeled off a win in tonight’s international friendly.
Burley, who was commentating on the fixture for ESPN, went off on the 22-year-old expected future Ballon d’Or winner’s ‘bad habit’, as he threw himself to the floor in the 32nd minute of the tie.
A heavy touch after Benjamin Pavard’s low cross into the box left Mbappe to charge into Spurs and Wales ace Joe Rodon, the superstar didn’t even have time to appeal before the ploy was waved off.
Rodon and several Wales players could be seen throwing their arms up into the air in disgust.
Thankfully, the referee who stood by as Neco Williams was wrongly sent off by VAR, was not won over by Mbappe’s fall at all, there wasn’t even appeals to wave off with the incident shut down immediately.
Burley was enraged by Mbappe’s actions, labelling the superstar an ‘absolute cheat’, ’embarrassment’ and stating that this was a ‘bad habit’ of the Frenchman’s.
Pictures from ESPN.
Burley was very riled up by the Frenchman’s dishonest actions:
“Oh, get up, get up! He’s got a bad habit of that him you know, keep your eye on him. Look, Mr.Innocent Kylian Mbappe… Watch this, watch, cheat – absolute cheat.”
“Watch this… Look at him… Embarrassment. A player of his talent throwing himself over like that, referee was spot on – he should’ve given him a yellow card.”
“Give him a yellow for nonsense like that, if you’re going to send young boys off like Neco Williams in a friendly like that, yellow card him (Mbappe) for diving.”
“Let’s put a stop to it before these Euros start. Sorry, rant over.”
Burley, the former Chelsea and Celtic star who won 46 caps for Scotland, added that Mbappe should’ve been yellow carded for the apparent attempt at deceit, and it’s surprising to see that he wasn’t.
Whilst the skilled forward didn’t technically launch an appeal – something that may make the incident look simply a coming together involving ‘Mr. Innocent’, if it wasn’t deemed a penalty, surely it’s a dive?
The angry reaction towards Mbappe from Burley, as well as from plenty of fans online, will hopefully encourage the ace to cut this kind of play out.
For his sake, God forbid an action of deceit comes off in a much higher-profile game that will be deemed unforgivable and see the star’s character tarnished for his entire career.