Adil Rami has admitted that it was he who let off the fire extinguisher that caused France’s World Cup hotel to be evacuated during the tournament, but that he only did so in self-defence.
On the night of France’s 4-3 win over Argentina in the last 16, several members of the squad returned from a celebratory dinner in a state of high revelry.
Rami, however, had stayed behind to play video games instead and, upon trying to have his room barged into by his rowdy colleagues, decided to take the law into his own hands.
Regaling the night on TF1 show Le Mag, the 32-year-old defender gave his side of the story:
Fifteen of the squad went to a restaurant, and when they got back to the hotel they started singing. I remained true to myself and stayed in my room, playing Fortnite naked but for my headphones.
There was singing in the corridors, and the guys went from room to room waking people up. I could feel the storm approaching. As soon as anyone opened their door the lads burst in and overturned the furniture. I had taken a fire extinguisher into my room as a security measure against them.
I put my pants on and opened the door. Benjamin Mendy stuck his foot in and shouted: ‘Come on, boys, let’s trash Rami’s room! So I let off the extinguisher. When they came in it looked like Ghostbusters.
The smoke was like a shisha bar, or even (Marseille’s) Velodrome stadium. You couldn’t see three feet in front of yourself in the corridors. I was frightened. When I saw just how big a piece of stupidity this was, I thought I would be kicked out of the squad.
The hotel’s security staff arrived and told us: ‘Everyone out! It’s poisonous!’
“I remained true to myself and stayed in my room, playing Fortnite naked but for my headphones.”
Now there’s a quote for the ages.