The manager of Crystal Palace, Patrick Vieira has announced that he would have a meeting with his defensive meeting Cheikhou Kouyate for showing support to Idrissa Gueye who allegedly dislikes the LGBT community.
Idrissa Gueye of Paris Saint Germain missed the French Ligue 1 game between PSG and Montpellier which took place on May 14, 2022. Then, reports were that he decided to be left out of the squad for “personal reasons”.
However, it was later revealed that Idrissa Gueye refused to be a part of the team because PSG decided to wear jerseys with LGBT symbols on them to mark the 2022 International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia.
As of the time of publishing this report, there was no official statement from the club and none from the player to confirm that it was because of the symbol on the jerseys that Gueye refused to play the league game which ended 4-0 in favor of PSG.
Amid reports that Gueye dislikes the LGBT community which inspired him not to play the league game on May 14, Cheikhou Kouyate, Gueye’s Senegal national team-mate, took to his Instagram story to support the 32-year-old PSG’s defensive midfielder.
Kouyate posted a picture on his Instagram story in which he posed with Gueye holding the African Cup of Nations trophy which Senegal won in February 2022. The 32-year-old Crystal Palace defensive midfielder captioned the picture with @Iganagueye, “Champion with a big heart, Champion in your behavior, Champion in your generosity, Champion you were, great, champion you are, and you will remain in our eyes.”
Patrick Vieira dragged into Idrissa Gueye’s saga
Ahead of Crystal Palace’s 37th Premier League game of the 2021-2022 season which is against Everton on Thursday, May 19, 2022, at 19:45, reporters dragged the coach of Palace, Patrick Vieira into the Idrissa Gueye’s saga.
When they asked him if he was satisfied that Cheikhou Kouyate decided to support Idrissa Gueye for not playing a league match because he didn’t want to wear jerseys with LGBT symbols on them, coach Vieira stressed that it was not official that Gueye failed to play the game because he disliked LGBT community.
While noting that Gueye’s alleged dislike for LGBT was still speculation, Patrick Vieira stressed that he does not support any form of discrimination.
The Crystal Palace coach said: “He (Gueye) refused to wear a certain shirt? Did he or Paris St Germain make a statement?
“There is a lot of noise coming out from France and I have been reading the news but I do not see any kind of statement from Paris St Germain or any kind of statement from the player.
“People are assuming so before we get to conclusions, we have to be sure about what we are talking about before creating something really negative.
“Obviously what is clear from myself and the football club is we are supporting Jake and we are fighting against any kind of discrimination.”
When a reporter told Patrick Vieira during the press conference on Wednesday, May 18, 2022, that he has confirmed from PSG that Gueye refused to play because of the LGBT symbol on the shirt, the French tactician added: “If this is the case, I will speak to Cheikhou about it. It’ll be an in-house conversation.”
Patrick Vieira says he will "speak to" Cheikhou Kouyate if he is satisfied that the midfielder's message of support for Idrissa Gueye was because the PSG player refused to wear a rainbow symbol on Saturday. pic.twitter.com/pL6Jd9ouIM
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) May 18, 2022
