Kylian Mbappé rejects Swedish rape claim

The Real Madrid star has furiously denied reports in Sweden that he is the unnamed person in a rape investigation. He also appeared to link the reports to his ongoing wage dispute with former club Paris Saint-Germain.

French football star Kylian Mbappé has reacted furiously to reports in Sweden that he is the subject of a rape investigation that Swedish prosecutors opened on Tuesday.

Mbappé has not been named by the authorities, but Swedish media, including newspapers Aftonbladet and Expressen and public broadcaster SVT, all reported on Tuesday that the 25-year-old Real Madrid striker was the target of the investigation after a night out in Stockholm last week.

"In response to media reports about a suspected rape in Stockholm, the prosecutor can confirm that a criminal report has been submitted to the police," Sweden's Prosecution Authority said in a statement, adding that the alleged incident occurred at a hotel on October 10.

Citing anonymous sources, Expressen reported that Mbappe was "reasonably suspected" of rape and sexual assault, the lower of two degrees of suspicion in the Swedish legal system.

Aftonbladet and SVT backed up the report, which Mbappé's representatives have emphatically denied.

Mbappe's lawyer: 'He's done nothing wrong'

"We do not know who the complaint is against, we do not even know if the complaint is targeting him," Mbappe's lawyer, Marie-Alix Canu-Bernard, told French TV channel TF1 on Tuesday evening.

"He is never alone, he is never exposed to a risk-taking situation," she continued. 

"It totally excludes that there could have been any reprehensible behaviour on his part. It is an absolute certainty. He is serene but flabbergasted by the media frenzy."

She insisted that her client has done "nothing wrong" but would cooperate with the Swedish justice system if he were indeed to be directly targeted by an investigation.

Earlier, Mbappie's representatives said in a statement to the French news agency AFP:

"Today, a new slanderous rumor is starting to spread across the web from the Swedish media. These accusations are completely false and irresponsible, and their propagation is unacceptable. All necessary legal action will be taken to reestablish the truth."

Mbappe posted a link to a French media story on the matter on X, formerly Twitter, describing it as, "Fake News!!!!"

Mbappé links rape reports to PSG wage dispute

Mbappé himself appeared to draw a link between the reports, which he dismissed as "fake news," and an ongoing dispute with his former club Paris Saint-Germain (PSG).

Mbappé claims that he is owed €55 million ($60 million) in wages by the Qatari-owned French champions and was scheduled to attend hearing before a French league committee on Tuesday. A decision is expected on October 25.

"It's becoming so predictable," Mbappé wrote on X ob Monday, adding: "[And] on the eve of the hearing, as if by chance," accompanied by a winking emoji.

A source close to PSG told AFP that it would "ignore" Mbappe's claim that there was any link between the reports in Sweden and his dispute with the club.

Mbappé was not selected for France's Nations League wins against Israel (4-1) and Belgium (2-1) during the international break, hence the private trip to Stockholm instead.

Les Bleus head coach Didier Deschamps said the reports were "not a good thing for the national team" but appeared to defend Mbappé, warning: "You had better take a bit of a step back before publishing anything and everything, but these things happen so often," he said. "There are things that are not difficult to verify, but if you credit any old thing …

"In any case I am not going to talk to him about it. He [Mbappé] is big enough to know how to communicate."

mf/lo (AFP, Reuters)