“Besides the fact that he was robbed…”: Thomas Pesquet criticized the refereeing after the Blues’ relegation

In the category of “celebrities whose opinions on arbitration we didn’t expect to see,” he lags significantly behind Jean-Christophe Lagarde and his “shameless theft from this fucking international federation”. But French astronaut Thomas Pesquet had little to envy the former Seine-Saint-Denis MP in terms of outrage on Sunday night after the Blues’ brutal defeat in the World Cup quarter-final against South Africa.

On the X website (formerly Twitter), Pesce did not skimp on the actions of the match referee, New Zealander Ben O’Keefe. “Rugby is a sport that is usually played 15 v 15,” he says seconds after the final whistle. The post quickly went viral and received many responses. Among them, a visitor from Belgium considers him a “bad loser”, referring to the “seum” the Belgians ridiculed after their defeat in the semi-finals of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Enough to drive Thomas Pesquet mad with rage. “No, but in addition to getting robbed, you have to deal with upset guys who don’t know the rules, it’s normal there. Nobody spoke in Belgium when France won? Everyone said it was a “great match with two good teams”? And yet nothing is visible from an arbitrage point of view. No kidding. »

The conversation continues, and the astronaut finally calms down: “I love Belgium very much. Really, sincerely. And I’m ashamed of the guys who insulted me. But the guys on Twitter, who are waiting for the first defeat of the French since 2018, are trolling out of pure bitterness that on the other hand I’m in trouble […] If we want real jokes, humor and ridicule, no problem, we do it ourselves. »