Macron scores with terrible penalty in latest display of sporting prowess

Weeks after a sweaty Emmanuel Macron was seen hitting a punch bag in an apparent show of virility, the French president turned his sporting attention to football on Wednesday for a football match.

With wife Brigitte Macron applauding from the stands, Mr Macron donned his boots for a good cause - a charity match at the Stade Bernard Giroux outside Paris to raise money for children’s hospitals.

Mr Macron has already shown he can handle the ball, scoring a penalty in a previous charity match in 2021, even though some critics claimed the goalkeeper was a little obliging. This time, he scored from the penalty spot once again thanks to similarly poor goalkeeping.

The star-studded support cast at the Variétés Club de France match included current French football coach Didier Deschamps along with Laurent Blanc, Marcel Desailly and Robert Pirès, who all played in France’s victorious 1998 World Cup final against Brazil.

Also on the pitch were Belgian Eden Hazard, Ivorian Didier Drogba, Cameroonian Samuel Eto’o, Dutchman Johan Neeskens and German Jens Lehmann.

Social media had a field day with the French president’s latest sporting publicity stunt, in particular mocking a picture he posted of his kit laid out next to a banana. “I’m in stitches: Brigitte has prepared his afternoon snack,” wrote one.

One hard-Right site called Boulevard Voltaire suggested his communications team was “on a roll” and shouldn’t stop there.

“After all, with the Tour de France due to start soon, a cycling President would be quite a sight. Not to mention the fact that as summer approaches, there are still pétanque tournaments, sack races and 421 championships to look forward to. Jupiter has a right to have fun too. Especially if it’s for a good cause: his own.”

But others praised his “admirable” participation in the charity event.