Kylian Mbapp? rejects Swedish rape claim ? DW ? 10
The Real Madrid star has furiously denied reports in Sweden that he is the unnamed person in a rape investigation. He also appeared to link the reports to his ongoing wage dispute with former club Paris Saint-Germain.
French football star Kylian Mbapp? has reacted furiously to reports in Sweden that he is the subject of a rape investigation which Swedish prosecutors opened on Tuesday.
Mbapp? has not been named by the authorities but Swedish media including newspapers Aftonbladet and Expressen as well as public broadcaster SVT all reported on Tuesday that the 25-year-old Real Madrid striker was the target of the investigation after going on a night out in Stockholm last week.
"In response to media reports about a suspected rape in Stockholm, the prosecutor can confirm that a criminal report has been submitted to the police," Sweden's Prosecution Authority said in a statement, adding that the alleged incident occurred at a hotel on October 10
Citing anonymous sources, newspaper Expressen reported that Mbappe was "reasonably suspected" of rape and sexual assault, the lower of two degrees of suspicion in the Swedish legal system.
Aftonbladet and SVT backed up the report, which Mbapp?'s camp have emphatically denied.
"Today, a new slanderous rumor is starting to spread across the web from the Swedish media," they said in a statement to the French AFP news agency. "These accusations are completely false and irresponsible, and their propagation is unacceptable."
The statement added that "all necessary legal action will be taken to re-establish the truth."
Mbapp? links rape reports to PSG wage dispute
Mbapp? himself appeared to draw a link between the reports ? which he dismissed as "fake news" ? and an ongoing dispute with his former club Paris Saint-Germain (PSG).
Mbapp? claims he is owed 55 million euros ($60 million) in wages by the Qatari-owned French champions and was due to attend hearing before a French league committee on Tuesday. A decision is expected on October 25.
"It's becoming so predictable," Mbapp? posted on X on Monday, adding: "[And] on the eve of the hearing, as if by chance," accompanied by a winking emoji.
A source close to PSG told AFP it would "ignore" Mbappe's claim that there was any link between the reports in Sweden and his dispute with the club.
Mbapp? was not selected for France's Nations League wins against Israel (4-1) and Belgium (2-1) during the international break, hence the private trip to Stockholm instead.
Les Bleus head coach Didier Deschamps said the reports were "not a good thing for the national team" but appeared to defend Mbapp?, warning:
"You had better take a bit of a step back before publishing anything and everything, but these things happen so often," he said. "There are things that are not difficult to verify, but if you credit any old thing ?
"In any case I am not going to talk to him about it. He [Mbapp?] is big enough to know how to communicate."
mf/lo (AFP, DW Sources)
