FIFA president Gianni Infantino blasted the ‘hypocrisy’ of Western critics of Qatar's human rights record on Saturday, making a passionate defence of the World Cup in the Gulf state on the eve of the kick-off.
Football itself again took a back seat on Saturday, with the focus firmly on off-field politics just 24 hours before hosts Qatar were due open the tournament against Ecuador.
Infantino, speaking at his opening press conference of the tournament in Doha, had harsh words for critics of Qatar.
‘This moral lesson-giving -- one-sided -- is just hypocrisy,’ said the Swiss.
‘I don't want to give you any lessons of life, but what is going on here is profoundly, profoundly unjust.’
He added: ‘For what we Europeans have been doing for the last 3,000 years we should apologise for the next 3,000 years before starting giving moral lessons to people.’-AFP
