Adrien Rabiot has played down reports of a long-standing feud between his mother and the families of Kylian Mbappe and Paul Pogba after their apparent bust-up at Euro 2020.
Veronique Rabiot, who is Adrien's agent, was seen arguing with the Mbappe and Pogba families in the stands during France’s quarter-final defeat to Switzerland.
It was a fitting end to a chaotic tournament for Les Bleus, but Rabiot says the incident was blown out of proportion.
What did Rabiot say?
Reports in the French media suggested Veronique Rabiot had told Mbappe’s father that his son, who missed the decisive penalty in the shootout defeat, was arrogant. She is also alleged to have fallen out with Pogba’s family after the Manchester United midfielder's mistake led to a Switzerland goal.
Pogba and Rabiot themselves were also seen arguing on the pitch as France’s tournament collapsed all around them.
However, when asked by Telefoot about the incident the Juventus midfielder says it was all a fuss over nothing.
“Nothing at all happened in the stands,” he said. “It was a bit surprising to hear all of that. I spoke with her [Veronique] and I believe her. When she tells me that nothing happened, that’s the truth. You could see some irritation on the video, that can always happen, but who knows what was said?
“I haven’t spoken about it with Mbappe or Pogba, there was nothing on their side nor on my own so there was no need to speak about any of it.”
France’s struggle for fluency on the pitch has carried over into this season, with the world champions being held to draws by Bosnia-Herzegovina and Ukraine over the past week.
That is still enough to move them five points clear at the top of World Cup qualifying Group G, although second-placed Finland have two games in hand.
.jpg?auto=webp&format=pjpg&width=640&quality=60)