Paris (AFP) – Hatem Ben Arfa has laid into the way Paris Saint-Germain treats players after inspiring his new team Rennes to victory on penalties over his former club in the French Cup final.
“You must always respect the human being. If you don’t respect, at some point you will pay,” said Ben Arfa, who scored one of the spot-kicks in a 6-5 shoot-out victory after the two sides drew 2-2 after extra time.
Ben Arfa was one of the star turns in Saturday’s historic win, which saw Rennes conquer their first major trophy since they last won the French Cup in 1971.
The 32-year-old France international was frozen out by PSG near the end of his two-year spell in the French capital, which ended last summer after not playing a single competitive match in the 2017-18 season.
“It was very difficult,” he said and brought up the treatment this season of France midfielder Adrien Rabiot, who was banished from the first-team squad and has not played since December 11 after refusing to sign a new contract.
“I think Adrien Rabiot will come back one day with a team and hurt them, because it’s life, when you give the bad, you get the bad,” Ben Arfa added.
On Sunday, Rabiot’s mother and sometime agent Veronique thanked Ben Arfa “infinitely” for his support and hit out at PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi.
“The president made a totally unfair decision, everyone knows it,” she said.
“By doing that he poisoned his team, which had been doing its job for the previous five months. He fragmented his team precisely because he has forgotten the human dimension.
“When you make decisions in life, they have short-term, medium-term and long-term consequences. Failing to grasp that when you’re president shows you do not know football and footballers and, above all, that you do not know men.”
