President Emmanuel Macron loves football, but has been accused of misconduct “like a medieval monarch”after France’s defeat by Argentina in the World Cup final.

The French head of state faced ridicule spread by his attempts at comfort The Blues with hugs, pats on the back and a talk in the locker room after the game.

One commentator has compared Macron to French and English kings of the Middle Ages, who sought to cure ailments such as scrofula with “the royal touch”.

Another said that despite his fervent support for the national team, voters continued to see Macron “as a cynical careerist, trying to ride a wave of national emotion.

such criticism they are not new. Since taking office in 2017, Macron It exploded the immense powers of the French presidential office a interfere in almost all areas of French life: from culture to sport.

When Kylian Mbappé was considering leaving Paris Saint-Germain for Real Madrid this year, Macron called the French star to tell him to stay.

Macron’s arrogance

The 44-year-old centrist president attended the World Cup final with his wife Brigitte, 69, and a host of French sports stars, including Olympic gold medal-winning judo champion Teddy Riner, 33, who was flown with him from Paris . He failed to add Eric Benzema this Monday announced his official retirement from the French national team.

after the match, jumped on the grass to console the French team before walking into the dressing room to deliver a speech telling the players he has done the country proud.

Matthieu Croissandeau, 51, political pundit at BFMTV, the news channel, Macron said he had “exaggerated” and displayed “arrogance”.

The president had been accused of trying to profit politically from France’s victory at the 2018 World Cup. “And now he’s also trying to confiscate the defeat,” Croissandeau said.

“You could say that Emmanuel Macron has listened to his heart and that he is a true football fan, which is true. But it’s hard not to see a form of excesswhat the Greeks called arrogance Or some kind of omnipotence. In the Middle Ages, they called it the royal touch,” the commentator described.

He said Macron’s attitude is even more incomprehensible since he did it rejected calls to boycott the World Cup due to Qatar’s human rights record, supporting it “We must not politicize sport.”

Croissandeau said Macron’s speech to the French team after the match, which ended with him saying “Long live the Republic, long live France”It sounded like an election speech.

He said it was an “awkward moment”, where he showed Macron a “lack of judgement” and “he spoke to say nothing”.

“The players wanted him gone”

Adeline François, 44, host of BFM’s morning show, said the players “visibly just wanted him gone”.

Croissandeau agreed, saying: “The reality is that Emmanuel Macron he has overcome and yielded to his own nature and their communication strategy, as everything was accurately conveyed on their social accounts”.

Marie-Bénédicte Allaire, political correspondent of radio station RTL, said: “What is striking about Emmanuel Macron is that he persists in his attempts to capture the collective emotion of the French without ever reaching it”.

Allaire said the president had staged a similar performance following the 2017 death of Johnny Hallyday, the French rock star. Such efforts had a “zero impact” on your popularityShe said.

“For the French people, Emmanuel Macron remains a merchant banker who entered politics like a thief breaking into a house”.

The World Cup final was marred by violence in central Paris and some provincial towns, albeit on a smaller scale than previous matches.

The youths clashed with the police in the capital, as well as in Grenoble and Lyon. The Interior Ministry said 227 were arrested, including 47 in Paris.

The Argentines they failed to make it to the Champs Elysees. The police stopped them. They only reached the Place de la Concorde.

The French team will greet their fans this Monday in the Place de la Concorde at around 8pm, after landing from Doha at Charles de Gaulle airport. The parade of heroes, scheduled from the Champs Elysees in case of victory, has been cancelled.

Paris, correspondent

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