Evra slams French 'traitor'

Captain unhappy over press informant within the squad

By Jamie Casey   Last updated: 20th June 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Evra slams French 'traitor'

Evra: Infuriated by informant

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France captain Patrice Evra has branded the person responsible for talking to the press over the Nicolas Anelka saga a 'traitor'.

Anelka was sent home from the national squad's base in South Africa after a foul-mouthed tirade aimed at boss Raymond Domenech at half-time of France's 2-0 World Cup defeat to Mexico.

After the Chelsea forward refused to apologise, the French Football Federation felt they had no choice but to withdraw him from their squad and he has now left South Africa.

The dressing room rift was already public knowledge in their homeland before the decision was made, however, as newspaper L'Equipe reported the incident on Saturday morning.

Evra is adamant the press could not have known without speaking to a member of the French camp, as no journalists were present during the altercation.

The Manchester United left-back has called on the guilty party to own up and would like a similar banishment imposed for disrupting harmony within the party.

"The problem of France is not Anelka, but the traitor among us," he said.

"We must eliminate the traitor from the group, because he wants to hurt the team.

"There is no little mouse in the locker room, this comes from someone who is on the team and wants to hurt the team.

"We are not going to lie, the reporter [from L'Equipe] did not make this up. I do not know anything [about this person], I am not a magician."

Condemned

Evra, however, could not defend the behaviour of his compatriot Anelka: "His comments are unacceptable," he admitted.