Jean-Michel Larqué, the verdict falls after astonishment
Former player of the France team, Jean-Michel Larqué spoke on a scene between Emmanuel Macron and Kylian Mbappé, filmed during the 2022 World Cup.
The French team is about to enter the running in the 2026 World Cup. The Blues will present themselves with the status of unfortunate finalists since they gave in to Argentina in the final of the 2022 edition. This famous evening marked by disappointment four years ago was notably marked by a scene filmed and broadcast on television. We could see Emmanuel Macron trying to comfort Kylian Mbappé. A thirty-two second long scene which did not go down well with public opinion. And certain personalities.
Among the latter, a former French international who notably played for AS Saint-Étienne and Paris Saint-Germain. Subsequently becoming a leading consultant and commentator, Jean-Michel Larqué was invited to comment on this famous sequence, as part of the documentary Mbappé, football diplomacybroadcast Tuesday evening on France 5. But before that, he reacted to the justification of Cyril Mourin, sports advisor to Emmanuel Macron from 2017 to 2024.
The latter who declared: “You have a whole protocol for awarding medals (…). FIFA brings
(Emmanuel Macron) a little too fast there and it turns out that he is a few meters from Kylian (Mbappe) who is feeling all the emotion of this defeat. The difficulty and the controversy that arises from this moment, for me, is that it is filmed. For reasons that escape me, you have a television which has international coverage and which decides to make a thirty-second image on the President of the Republic and Kylian. »
Jean-Michel Larqué deplores the attitude of Emmanuel Macron
And Cyril Mourin adds. “That’s what, I think, generated annoyance among viewers. They had the impression that there was excessive communication, imagery. But the president did not plan to do that. He doesn’t know he’s being filmed. » Surprising explanations since in the sequence filmed from different angles, we see a cameraman located one meter from the duo. Enough to annoy Jean-Michel Larqué.
“If they have no other arguments than that, I am stunned. »
Then Thierry Roland’s former sidekick on TF1 continued to give his opinion. “The scene exists. Whether it lasts five seconds, thirty seconds or two minutes, it exists and the director has nothing to do with it. He does his job. I think it is not the role of a President of the Republic to kneel. A President of the Republic should not do that. Now is not the time. If he wants to say everything he wants to say, we don’t do it in the center of a field. »
