The Argentina squad is on cloud nine after having won their second straight Copa America 2024 title. Lionel Messi might’ve broken down in tears in the final against Colombia due to an injury, but saw his teammates secure the championship thanks to Lautaro Martinez’s late winner in extra-time.
The Argentinian players have all the right to celebrate the championship as they wish. They’ve won three straight major championships (two Copa America’s and the 2022 FIFA World Cup) and are the undisputed best team in the world.
But it appears that the players got a bit overzealous in their celebrations.
A rather controversial video has started going viral which shows the dark side of the Argentine squad’s celebrations. It’s normal for a squad of players to chant songs in celebrations, but the one created by the Argentina players are direct digs at some European national teams.
A clip posted on Enzo Fernandez’s Instagram account shows the players chanting something in their native language, but it didn’t take much time for Spanish speaking fans to realize what they were saying. This is the entire translation of the chant sung by the Argentine players.
“Listen, spread the word;
They play in France, but they are all from Angola;
How nice it is! They are going to run;
They are ‘cometravas’* like fucking Mbappé;
Their mom is Nigerian;
Their dad, Cameroonian.
But in the document …Nationality: French.”
This is a clear attack at the France national team and the diversity of the players in their squad. The majority of the French national team’s players are those with African ancestors and these are the players being targeted in this chant.
What is even more shocking is that someone like Enzo Fernandez openly singing this awful racist chant. Fernandez plays with seven black French players at Chelsea that includes the likes of Christopher Nkunku, Lesley Ugochukwu, Axel Disasi, Malo Gusto, Benoit Badiashile, Malang Sarr and Wesley Fofana.
Enzo has earned a lot of criticism for his pathetic actions, with Chelsea supporters also voicing their disgust at the Argentine midfielder.
It’s quite clear that Fernandez’s and the Argentine players views’ align with some South American fans’ who are furious to see European teams like France strengthened by players of African origin.
Mbappe’s dad, for one, is Cameroonian. William Saliba’s mother was also born in Cameroon. Aurelien Tchouameni is also of Cameroonian descent. But this chant is particularly a dig at the Real Madrid forward due to some of his comments against South American national teams ‘having it easy’ in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers as compared to the UEFA teams.
Mbappe also scored a hat-trick in the 2022 FIFA World Cup final against Argentina and seems to have rubbed the Argentine squad the wrong way with his actions.
Even the ‘cometravas’ term is actually a subtle attack at the ex-PSG man.
The word loosely translates to having sexual relations with a transgender and is actually a reference to Mbappe’s relationship with French model Ines Rau. For those unknowing, Rau is actually the first openly transgender playboy model and was involved in a relationship with Mbappe, but that ended in 2023 itself.
This chant was actually not created after the Copa America final but actually became a thing after Argentina defeated France in the 2022 World Cup final. Some of the Argentine fans actually created this chant after defeating Mbappe’s side and it appears that it caught up with the players, who in turn sang this in an effort to delight their local supporters.
The Argentine squad has come under a lot of heat for this disrespectful chant, and some are even pointing at the players being racist due to the low black population in the country. Only about 0.39% of Argentina’s population is Afro-Argentine and there is no colored players in their national team, which could be why racist chants such as these are being encouraged rather than condemned.
