Thursday November 11, 2021
What just happened at PSG?
Scandalous attack with the metal rod
French football is facing a scandal. After an attack with a metal rod on a player, another player is taken into custody. She denies involvement in the act. The attack is reminiscent of another major sports scandal. And yet there are many questions.
If it were about a film, it would be torn apart by the critics – too unrealistic – and there would be serious allegations of plagiarism. A female footballer from top European club Paris St. Germain drives a teammate who is playing in the same position home after a meal with the team. In the middle of the journey, two masked men tear open the doors and pull the two women out of the car. The driver’s fellow player is attacked with metal bars, injuries to her legs and hands.
What sounds like a bad crime thriller happened on November 4th. The protagonists are called Aminata Diallo and Kheira Hamraoui. As far as apparently certain, but everything else offers material for many entanglements and several theories about what happened. On Wednesday, the French newspaper “L’Equipe” reported that Diallo is suspected of having lured her teammate and competitor in midfield into this ambush. It could therefore be about the regular place in the center of the Champions League team and the French national team – Diallo could want to have gained an advantage. She is said to have been detained in the attack, but not injured.
The 26-year-old was arrested on Wednesday and can therefore remain in custody until at least Friday. So far, however, there has been no charge. Diallo denies their involvement in the act. Investigators say about the attack that nothing was stolen, rather the aim was to prevent 31-year-old Hamraoui from doing her job for a while.
Also a 34-year-old in custody
However, it could also have been completely different and Diallo only happened to be present in the attack. Because next to her, a 34-year-old came into the focus of the investigators – who is a close friend of Diallo. The man is already in prison in Lyon for robbery, torture and barbarism. This was transferred by the judicial police to the competent authority after several PSG players stated, according to media reports, that they and Hamraoui had received anonymous threatening phone calls prior to the attack. In which a man allegedly claimed to have had a relationship with Hamraoui while she played for FC Barcelona from 2018 until this summer. “L’Equipe” reports that he had declared that his life was “shattered” by this relationship and that he had expressed a desire for revenge. A trace of the calls brought the investigators to the 34-year-old. It was through him that they came across Diallo, since the two are supposed to be in close contact with one another.
This in turn probably justifies the serious suspicion against Diallo that she had commissioned the assassination attempt. A friend contradicts in the “L’Equipe”: “Some believe that this attack was orchestrated by Aminata Diallo because of a question of position, but that is not the case at all. They are friends, they got through it together.” The two have been good friends for years and are said to have been happy to finally be able to play for the same club. When they were not nominated for the 2019 World Cup in their own country, they went on vacation to Mexico together. They often spend their vacations together with a group of French players, the advisor to the two PSG players said in an interview a few months ago.
Hamraoui only slightly injured
However, should the allegations against Diallo prove to be true and the fight for the regular place really matters, the 26-year-old would have achieved her goal at least in the short term. Because on Tuesday evening she was in the Champions League game against Real Madrid (4-0) in the starting line-up. The 31-year-old Hamraoui was absent “for personal reasons”. The player, who won the Champions League with FC Barcelona last season before returning to France, did not suffer any serious injuries. She suffered a shock and had to be treated in the hospital after the attack and some wounds stitched up, but broken bones could be ruled out, according to “L’Equipe”.
Memories of figure skating
Metal bar, injured competitor – the doorbell rings a lot with sports fans. On January 6, 1994, one of the biggest sports scandals in the United States occurred. Figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was attacked with an iron bar during training and injured in her knee. Days later, the assassin was convicted, he reported that the husband of the Kerrigan rival Tonya Harding had hired him. The US federation then banned Harding for the Olympic Games, she defended herself successfully, after all, the rivals were both allowed to compete in Lillehammer. While Kerrigan won silver, Harding was only eighth. Harding did not admit to having been privy to it until 24 years after the attack. The drama was filmed as satire in 2018 under the title “I, Tonya”.
Hardly anyone can believe that such an attack actually repeats itself. PSG condemned the incident “strongly”. Noël Le Graët, President of the French Federation, said: “I don’t know any more than you do at the moment.” He then went on to explain: “But what is suspected is not plausible. I know both players. I am shocked when what is being said is true. It seems unimaginable. I am still very surprised and I am waiting the results of the investigation. ”
In any case, the scandal is detrimental to Paris St. Germain. On this Sunday, of all places, the second-placed team in the league will have to compete at the top club Olympique Lyon with the same number of points. Their trainer, Sonia Bompastor, said loudly “L’Equipe”: “It is difficult for me to comment on what happened, but my thoughts are with Kheira Hamraoui. It shocked me, I am still a little stunned about it. Even with the boys we have never seen such a case, that is inevitably negative (for the image of women’s football, editor’s note). “