Paris Saint-Germain head coach Christophe Galtier has found support after being accused of making racist comments about players during his time as Nice boss.
The allegations came in an e-mail allegedly sent by former Nice football director Julien Fournier at the end of last season.
According to The Athletic, the email's recipient was Dave Brailsford, director of sport at INEOS, the company that owns Nice.
The contents of the email were first reported on Tuesday evening, with Galtier alleged to have told Fournier – in Fournier's words – that the club "could not have so many blacks and Muslims in the team".
Fournier and Galtier both left Nice after the end of last season, with Galtier cherry-picked to be coach of champions PSG.
Galtier's lawyer, Olivier Martin, said the 56-year-old PSG coach "contests with the greatest firmness" the accusations made against him. In a statement to AFP, Martin said Galtier "learned with amazement of the insulting and defamatory remarks".
Fournier allegedly also mentioned John Valovic, the agent and adopted son of Galtier, in the e-mail.
Valovic responded on Instagram, writing: "Thanks to everyone for your support. The accusations against me are false and intolerable. They will not remain without consequences."
Veteran Turkish striker Burak Yilmaz, who played under Galtier at Lille, said the claims of racism did not tally with his own experiences.
In a message posted on Instagram on Wednesday evening, Yilmaz wrote: "I read the news today and I felt like I have to say something. I worked with Galtier and never felt any negative behaviour from him about my religion or nationality.
"He is a great coach as well as a great person."
Defender Jose Fonte, who along with Yilmaz won the 2020-21 Ligue 1 title under Galtier at Lille, also stressed the claims came as a surprise.
"In three years working with Mr Galtier, he was always close to his players and above all, very respectful," Fonte wrote. "It is upsetting reading some news today. I have only good things to say about this man."
Jean-Michel Aulas, the long-standing president of Lyon, said he was "very sorry" for Galtier.
According to the Nice-Matin newspaper and other French media, security around Galtier has been tightened up since the allegations came to light.
Aulas, quoted by RMC, said: "I am very shocked and very sorry for Christophe, whom I know personally.
"I cannot imagine this kind of thing, but it's not for me to pass judgement. We see things happening in the public square that are so different from what we advocate in football.
"From the moment Christophe expresses his refusal to accept this type of information, he has every right to do so."
Nice issued a statement on Wednesday that read: “The facts related concern two people who no longer work for OGC Nice. This situation was treated with the utmost seriousness at the time of the events. The club will not comment further."
Fournier has firmly denied leaking the email, saying in a statement to Nice-Matin: "I am in no way responsible for the dissemination of this year-old internal information at the time of my departure from the club. The timing of these revelations revolts me as much as their content."
Galtier is expected to make a routine appearance at a PSG pre-match press conference on Friday, ahead of his team's top-of-the-table Ligue 1 game against Lens the following day.
Kane gunning for Lewandowski's single-season Bundesliga goal record
Harry Kane has his eyes set on Robert Lewandowski's single-season Bundesliga goal record after scoring twice in Bayern Munich's 2-1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt, though he knows he needs "to get a move on".
Kane scored in both halves on Saturday to take his tally to 42 goals this season across all competitions, also reaching the 400-goal mark at senior level for clubs and country.
The striker scored 280 of those goals for Tottenham, holding the honour of being the club's all-time leading scorer, while he is also the most prolific player in England history with 62 goals for the Three Lions.
With 35 goals in 31 Bundesliga appearances this season, Kane now has his eyes set on another piece of history.
Former Bayern striker Robert Lewandowski holds the record for the most goals scored in a single Bundesliga campaign, netting 41 times in 2020-21.
Asked about the possibility of breaking that record with just three games remaining in Bayern's league campaign, Kane said: "It's possible, but obviously I have to get a move on!
"I've got to maybe score a few goals next week. It's there, it's in touching distance.
"It depends on the last few games of course, but it was nice to add to it today and score a couple of goals to help the team."
Bayern next host Real Madrid in the first leg of a Champions League semi-final tie on Tuesday, before travelling to face Stuttgart on Saturday.
Pochettino says VAR 'damaging' English football as Chelsea denied Villa win
Mauricio Pochettino claimed VAR is "damaging" English football after Chelsea saw a potential winning goal chalked off at the end of their 2-2 Premier League draw with Aston Villa.
Despite a bright performance, Chelsea found themselves 2-0 down at half-time on Saturday with Marc Cucurella putting through his own net before Morgan Rogers added Villa's second.
Goals from Noni Madueke and Conor Gallagher dragged Chelsea level as they penned Villa back after the break, but the Blues were enraged in stoppage time when Axel Disasi saw a potential winner ruled out.
Disasi headed home in the fifth minute of stoppage time to spark wild celebrations among the visiting Chelsea fans, only for referee Craig Pawson to disallow the goal following a pitchside VAR review, ruling Benoit Badiashile pushed Diego Carlos in the build-up.
With that incident coming just one week after Chelsea were denied a penalty in their FA Cup semi-final loss to Manchester City despite Jack Grealish appearing to handle Cole Palmer's free-kick, Pochettino has had enough.
"Everyone that was watching the game will feel disappointed. The referee said it was a foul and disallowed the goal after going to the VAR to confirm," he told TNT Sports.
"The referee is unbelievable and it's ridiculous. It is difficult to accept these types of things. In the semi-final it was handball and it was no penalty, the referee didn't check it.
"It is painful as it has damaged English football and I think Villa players and their fans didn't understand why the goal was disallowed.
"They said it was a foul and if you see the challenge… if we go into every single challenge like this and it is going to be a foul, we wouldn't finish the game with 11 players.
"We can talk about the performance or the decision – it is damaging the game."
Pochettino had no complaints about Chelsea's performance, though, as they avoided defeat for just the fourth time in 51 Premier League games when trailing by two or more goals at half-time.
The Blues previously achieved that feat in a 3-3 draw with Sheffield Wednesday in 1992, a memorable 2-2 draw with Tottenham in 2016 and another 3-3 draw with West Brom in 2020.
Chelsea racked up 21 shots to Villa's nine and put up 1.57 expected goals (xG) to the hosts' 1.1, with Nicolas Jackson and Palmer spurning glorious chances in either half.
"The performance was very good," Pochettino said. "We played really well and it is true in the first half we conceded too easily.
"To play Villa, who are fighting for the top four, I am pleased with the team. Now, we have to move on and the headlines will be about the disallowed goal."
New England Revolution 1-4 Inter Miami: Messi at the double as Herons run riot
Lionel Messi scored twice and laid on a goal for Luis Suarez as Inter Miami retained their three-point lead at the Eastern Conference summit with a 4-1 win over the New England Revolution.
A franchise-record crowd of 65,612 people witnessed a flying start from the Revs as they took the lead within just 37 seconds at Gillette Stadium. Carles Gil pounced on some sloppy play from Miami to tee up Tomas Chancalay, who lobbed Drake Callender for the opener.
However, Miami roared back with Messi leading from the front. They had a deserved equaliser just after the half-hour mark, Messi slotting home after latching onto Robert Taylor's throughball.
Messi had his second after 67 minutes, producing another composed finish after former Barcelona team-mate Sergio Busquets split the New England backline.
Messi was involved in another two goals as Miami added some gloss to the scoreline late on; his first-time shot was saved by Henrich Ravas but Benjamin Cremaschi was on hand to score on the rebound after 83 minutes, then the Argentine teed up Suarez for a curled finish five minutes later.
Miami stay three points clear of Supporters' Shield holders FC Cincinnati at the top of the East, with the Orange and Blue keeping pace by beating the Colorado Rapids 2-1 on Saturday.
Data Debrief: Messi rolls back the years
Ahead of Saturday's game, some feared Miami boss Gerardo Martino would opt to rest Messi after speaking of the risks of fielding the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner on New England's artificial pitch.
However, Messi came through 90 minutes with another mesmerising performance. He has now recorded a goal involvement in 10 straight club matches for the seventh time in his glittering career, last doing so for Barcelona between September and December in 2018.
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