Former Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy writes columns after each match of the Spanish national team in El Debate since the beginning of the World Cup. On Friday, he published a piece titled "Today Revenge Has Come," in which he analyzed Spain's victory over Belgium and looked ahead to the semifinal clash with France. In this opus, the former head of the cabinet dropped a phrase that sparked a wide discussion. After acknowledging that France "has twice become world champion and was a finalist in the last tournament," that it "has won all the matches it has played in this World Cup" and occupies "the top spot in the FIFA rankings," he added: "Moreover, it has a squad of the highest level. True, without the French." The problem is that this statement is not supported by data. Of the 26 players called up by Didier Deschamps, only three were born outside France: Michael Olise, who was born in London to a British father of Nigerian descent and a French mother of Algerian descent; Marcus Thuram, born in Parma because his father, Lilian Thuram, was playing in Italy at the time; and Brice Samba, born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. All three hold French citizenship and, for the most part, grew up in the country's youth football training system. ## ## Reaction from the Spanish Government The reaction from the executive branch was swift. Transport Minister Oscar Puente attacked Rajoy on X, quoting his column and calling him "a stupid post-Francoist corrupt official whom the judiciary of this country spared from prison through a side door." Puente specifically highlighted two fragments of the text: one dedicated to the "reds" – in his reading, both the Belgian "Red Devils" and the Spanish fury – and the already mentioned passage about the French national team. Rajoy, who led the Spanish government from 2011 to 2018, has previously mixed football and politics in his columns about the current World Cup. Less common is the fact that one of his sports opinions has turned into a topic of institutional conflict, as a sitting minister directly responds to a former prime minister over a remark about the nationality of the opposing team's players. So far, there have been no additional comments from the Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez: he had to rearrange his agenda after the fire in Los Gallardos, postponing official events such as the demolition of the fence at the border with Gibraltar scheduled for Monday. ## ## Discussion Nearly Thirty Years Old Rajoy's remark did not come out of nowhere. It is linked to a discussion that has accompanied French football since Zinedine Zidane, Lilian Thuram, Marcel Desailly, and Patrick Vieira won the first World Cup in 1998. This team, made up of the sons and grandsons of immigrants from former French colonies, was welcomed as a symbol of diverse France, "black-blanc-beur" ("Black, white, Arabs") and as a model of integration. However, not everyone saw it that way. Jean-Marie Le Pen's "National Front" at the time claimed that this team does not represent France and that "it is artificial to bring players from abroad and call them the French national team." The far-right leader repeatedly reiterated his criticism of the "colored blues" in the following years. This rhetoric, already noted as racist at the time, left a mark that resurfaced at various moments in French politics, being linked to debates about immigration and national identity. Rajoy's phrase, although articulated nearly three decades later, reproduces the same logic: questioning the nationality of players born and, for the overwhelming majority, raised in France due to their family's origins. Reaction in France: "Disgusting Racism" In France, the statement by the former conservative Prime Minister of Spain has already sparked numerous responses on social media, and now the first political reactions are beginning to emerge. National Secretary of the French Communist Party Fabien Roussel, in a post published on X, called to "condemn" Mariano Rajoy, comparing his opinion column in "El Debate" to the racist remarks made by Paraguayan senator towards the captain of the "Blues" Kylian Mbappé. These remarks led to the initiation of an investigation by the Paris prosecutor's office for "aggravated public insults" following a complaint filed by the French Football Federation (FFF) with the National Center for the Fight Against Hate on the Internet in Paris. "They simply cannot help but express disgusting racism just to provoke our magnificent French national team!" – wrote Fabien Roussel. The Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, is scheduled to visit Paris on Tuesday to celebrate July 14 - on the same day, the semifinal match between France and Spain will take place. Emmanuel Macron will not travel to the USA for the semifinal. However, as reported by the newspaper "Le Parisien," the French president will go across the ocean if the team reaches the final.