Crystal Palace boss, Patrick Vieira has slammed Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez for abusing Kylian Mbappe during Argentina World Cup celebrations.
The Argentine goalkeeper held a doll with Mbappe’s face next to Lionel Messi during Argentina’s World Cup parade.
According to Vieira, such abuse of a fellow player has ‘damaged the game’.
The South Americans beat the defending champions on penalties in the World Cup final in Qatar but took their celebrations too far.
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Martinez began by mocking Mbappe directly after the final, calling for a minute’s silence for the Frenchman while Argentina partied in the dressing room.
Martinez’s behaviour since the final has been widely condemned and Vieira, a World Cup winner with France in 1998, pointed out that all this has tainted Argentina’s victory.
When you are talking about the abuse and the comments that he [Mbappe] received after the World Cup, I think that is damaging the game and himself,” Vieira told the press on Friday ahead of Crystal Palace’s Boxing Day Premier League.
“Some of the pictures that I saw from the Argentina goalkeeper took away a little bit from what Argentina achieved at the World Cup.
“That was a stupid decision from Martinez to do that.”
