Argentine President Javier Milei has arrived in Paris where he is expected to meet his French opposite number, Emmanuel Macron, after tensions escalated between their countries over the South American soccer team's derogatory post-match chants about French players.
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A short clip captured during Argentina's Copa America victory celebrations in Miami earlier this month shows triumphant players chanting a song considered racist toward French players of African heritage.
French officials castigated the Argentina players in the Instagram live video posted by midfielder Enzo Fernandez, who publicly apologised.
The French soccer federation filed a legal complaint over the "unacceptable racist and discriminatory remarks" and Fernandez's English club, Chelsea, started an internal disciplinary procedure.
Censure from the soccer world snowballed into a political scandal last week when Argentina's vice president, Victoria Villarruel, defended Fernandez and the team, saying that Argentina would not tolerate criticism from a "colonialist" country.
In a widely shared social media post, she insisted that Argentina was not a racist country because, unlike France, "We never had colonies or second-class citizens. We never imposed our way of life on anyone".
"Enough with faking indignation, hypocrites," she added, leaving French diplomats in Buenos Aires seething.
The story took a further twist on Wednesday when chaos engulfed the Olympic men's soccer match between Argentina and Morocco in Saint-Etienne, with fans invading the field and throwing bottles in protest of a late goal by Argentina and the game restarting nearly two hours after it had appeared to finish.
"Argentina is the enemy in France," was a headline Thursday in Argentine newspaper Clarín, citing the deafening boos and jeers that greeted the Argentine national anthem.
The Argentine president's office said that in addition to meeting Macron and other French officials at the Elysee Palace on Friday, Milei would attend the Olympic opening ceremony and hold talks with French business leaders.
Australian Associated Press
