Patrick Vieira has responded to the outrage caused by Crystal Palace midfielder Cheikhou Kouyate after the midfielder publicly supported Idrissa Gueye for allegedly refusing to wear rainbow colours for PSG.
Patrick Vieira said: “Did he [Gueye] make the statement or did PSG make a statement? Who said [he refused to wear the shirt]? This is the biggest problem. There is a lot of noise coming out from France but I’ve not seen any statement from the player or PSG. We have to be sure of what we’ve seen. We are fighting against any kind of discrimination.”
When prompted that PSG had confirmed the news,
Patrick Vieira said: “If this is the case, I will speak to Cheikhou. It will be an in-house discussion.”
Vieira also spoke on the impact of Blackpool’s Jake Daniels becoming the first openly gay player in the country after he came out to the world this week with the support of his teammates and club.
Patrick Vieira added: “I think it takes a lot of courage and personality to come out and express himself and I think the support he’s received so far from football and society is really positive. It shows the world is improving. It’s good and it can be a positive. Football is not different from our society. I believe we’re in a better place than 30 years ago and it’s difficult to put football inside a box as it’s reflective of our society. Education is based in respecting each other. The power of the game allows us to educate the majority of people. We can use football to promote education and there’s still a lot to do.”
