Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka has sensationally accused French football of effective racism following the treatment of some of France’s World Cup flops this season.
When Anelka faced Marseille in September he was jeered throughout, leading the forward to suggest there was more to the treatment of some of the World Cup squad than met the eye.
“In the World Cup we saw the true face of France,” he told the Daily Mirror.
“In difficult moments, we see what people really think. They said ‘Franck Ribery hit Yoann Gourcuff; Gourcuff is a good French boy, Ribery is a Muslim.
“It went too far. When the France team does not win, then immediately people start to talk about religion and race.”
Anelka was speaking before Chelsea’s return match against Marseille, and the former Paris St Germain striker was adamant the treatment he has received is nothing new.
He added: “It started for me when I was the first player to come from the banlieues, the suburbs of the cities.
“Because I had a Ferrari, that did people’s head in. When I was at Madrid, I was 20, I had the money, I bought a Ferrari. And people criticized me.”
And the striker, who received an 18-game ban from the national team for his part in the World Cup problems, revealed he was not very patriotic about his homeland and he would rather quit the team than sing the national anthem.
He continued: “People in France have a false picture of me but I have never had any problems in other countries. Everything I have achieved has been abroad.
“I am not ‘made in France’ - that is the place where I have had nothing but trouble.
“That is why I never wanted to sing the Marseillaise, the national anthem, when I played for France. Had they insisted that I did, I would have refused and quit the team.”