Rant over golden steak costs footballer dear

Bayern Munich has fined its star French winger Franck Ribery after his tirade over criticism of his £1000 ($1780) steak.

French football star Franck Ribery about to tuck into his $1780 gold-coated steak.

Bayern Munich has fined its star French winger Franck Ribery after he was accused of decadence for being served a £1000 ($1780) steak covered in gold leaf and responded with an expletive-laden tirade.

In a lengthy message in French, published on Instagram and Twitter on Saturday, the footballer wrote: “F*** your mothers, your grandmothers and your family tree too. I owe you nothing, I owe my success above all to God, myself and my loved ones who believed in me. As for the others, you are nothing but pebbles in my socks!”

Ribery, 35, who is training with the club in Doha, Qatar, during the Bundesliga’s winter break, said that his message was addressed to the “envious, the enraged surely born through a torn condom” and accused “pseudo journalists” of ignoring his donations to charity.

Two days earlier he had posted a clip of his visit to the Dubai steakhouse Nusr-Et, where he posed with the Turkish owner and celebrity chef Nusret Gokce, nicknamed Salt Bae, who prepared the tomahawk steak for him, in what seemed to be a marketing stunt.

Franck Ribery, left, watches as his steak is set up before him.

Bayern Munich’s director of sport, Hasan Salihamidzic, said that the club had fined Ribery a “very high” sum for his choice of words but pointed out that the restaurant had given him the meal free and that he and his family had been insulted on social media after the video was posted.

“He used words that we as FC Bayern Munich cannot accept and that Franck as a role model and player of FC Bayern must never use. I had a long conversation with Franck yesterday [Sunday] and told him that he will get a heavy financial penalty,” he said.

Ribery was forced to apologise in November after slapping the French football pundit Patrick Guillou, who had criticised his performance in Bayern’s 3-2 league defeat by their arch rivals, Borussia Dortmund.

The Times

Bayern midfielder Franck Ribery celebrates after scoring his side's fifth goal during the Champions League group E soccer match between FC Bayern Munich and Benfica Lisbon in Munich last November, Picture: Matthias Schrader/AP