Former Spain PM criticised for ‘xenophobic’ remark on French World Cup team

Mariano Rajoy has drawn criticism for an opinion piece in Spanish website El Debate ahead of World Cup semifinal.Spain’s conservative former prime minister Mariano Rajoy is facing criticism at home and in neighbouring France after saying their national football team had “no French players”.The comment, published in an opinion piece in Spanish online news site El Debate on Sunday, came as Spain prepares to face France in a titanic World Cup semifinal on Tuesday.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4World Cup England vs Argentina: Historic rivalry renewed on biggest stagelist 2 of 4Qatar’s Father Emir Sheikh Hamad bin ⁠Khalifa Al Thani laid to rest in Dohalist 3 of 4FIFA, Infantino, to examine 64-team World Cup for 2030 tournamentlist 4 of 4Senegal fire coach Pape Thiaw after disappointing World Cupend of listSpain’s current Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, condemned the remark as “xenophobic”.“There are those who still measure belonging by surname, place of birth, or skin colour. Others measure it by our roots in a country and our will to contribute to it,” the Socialist leader wrote on X.“Spain belongs to those who love it and work for it. Not to those who shame it with xenophobic statements.”Transport Minister Oscar Puente dismissed Rajoy as a “post-Franco idiot”.French politicians have also lashed out at Rajoy’s comment.Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told French channel BFMTV that it was “absolutely unacceptable”.The France team are favourites to win the World Cup [Paul Childs/Reuters]Communist party leader Fabien Roussel compared Rajoy’s comment to widely criticised remarks by Paraguayan Senator Celeste Amarilla. She said after Paraguay’s elimination by France in the Round of 16 that star player Kylian Mbappe was a “colonised Cameroonian who has really pretended to be French”.“They just can’t stop themselves from slinging this disgusting racism,” said Roussel.Anti-discrimination minister Aurore Berge also denounced the “repeated racist outbursts”.