on March 25, 2019 shows France’s midfielder Paul Pogba celebrating
after France’s win of the UEFA Euro 2020 Group H qualification
football match between France and Iceland at the Stade de France
stadium in Saint-Denis, north of Paris.FRANCK FIFE /
AFP
Manchester United’s Paul Pogba said on Monday
he will be “taking legal action” after reports claimed he had
retired from international duty in protest against French President
Emmanuel Macron’s comments about radical Islam.
According to reports in the Middle East picked up by British
tabloid The Sun, World Cup winner Pogba wanted to end his
international career after Macron vowed to take the fight to
Islamic radicals after the October 16 beheading of history teacher
Samuel Paty.
“I am appalled, angry, shocked and frustrated some ‘media’
sources use me to make total fake headlines in the sensible subject
of French current events and adding my religion and the French
National Team to the pot,” Pogba posted on Instagram.
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“I am taking legal action against the publishers and spreaders
of these 100% Fake News,” he added.
Paty had shown cartoons of the Prophet Mohamed to pupils in a
class discussion on free speech in a school near Paris.
Macron’s comments triggered protests in Muslim-majority
countries at the weekend, with people burning pictures of Macron in
Syria and setting fire to French flags in the Libyan capital
Tripoli.
Pogba won the World Cup in Russia in 2018, with Les Bleus’
next fixture a friendly with Finland on November 11 ahead of
Nations League meetings with Portugal and Sweden.
United’s next match is Wednesday’s Champions League group game
against RB Leipzig at Old Trafford.
-AFP