PSG: The sinister story involving Kheira Hamraoui and Aminata Diallo is the stuff of Hollywood films

This will be a film one day.

The plot is familiar. Two team-mates vying for the same position. One brutally attacked and beaten, the other accused of planning it.

This is not the story of Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan, the two American figure skaters of the 1990s, but the similarities are striking.

Paris Saint-Germain play Chelsea in the Champions League on Thursday. It will be their biggest game of the season so far. Somehow, the team continues to function on the pitch despite a turbulent 11 months off it.

On November 4 last year, two masked men attacked Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Kheira Hamraoui with an iron bar. They aimed directly for her legs. The attack, which lasted a few minutes, left her needing stitches. She also suffered large bruising but, amazingly, did not suffer any broken bones.

Hamraoui had been attending a team-bonding meal with her PSG team-mates. She left the restaurant with Sakina Karchaoui and Aminata Diallo, who drove both players home. Karchaoui, who lived further away, was dropped off first. Diallo continued to Hamraoui’s apartment. As she pulled up, two men appeared from a white van and dragged Hamraoui out of the car.

Diallo, who was unharmed, was arrested on November 10 on suspicion of organising the attack. Diallo and Hamraoui, both central midfielders, were in direct competition for the same place in both the PSG and French national team.

The incredible, yet sad, story of two former team-mates Kheira Hamraoui (right) and Aminata Diallo (left) will make the big screen one day

Parallels with the Harding and Kerrigan case were drawn. In 1994, Kerrigan was assaulted, with her attackers aiming for her legs. The assailant was Shane Stant, who had been hired by Harding’s ex-husband Jeff Gillooly and Shawn Eckardt. Harding denied involvement but eventually pleaded guilty to ‘conspiracy to hinder prosecution’, though many believed she had played a bigger part in the attack.

Diallo was held in custody and interviewed by police, but two days later she was released. Then came a twist. Reports emerged in Le Monde that Eric Abidal, the former Barcelona star, was set to be questioned after it emerged he had an affair with Hamraoui while she was playing for the Catalan club. 

Police had established the SIM card in Hamraoui’s phone was in Abidal’s name and attackers are alleged to have shouted ‘So like that, you sleep with married men?’ 

Abidal admitted the affair to his wife, Hayet, who filed for divorce. Hayet Abidal denied any involvement in the attack but spoke voluntarily to the police. Neither have ever been under suspicion.

Former PSG Women's player Aminata Diallo was charged with aggravated assault l

Former PSG Women’s player Aminata Diallo was charged with aggravated assault last month after being taken into police custody in connection with an attack on a team-mate

Hamraoui was attacked by masked men after being dragged from Diallo's car

Photo shows the heavy bruising and cuts sustained on her leg during the attack

Hamraoui was attacked by masked men with an iron bar after being dragged from Diallo’s car

Both Diallo and Hamraoui returned to training at the start of the year. Diallo was backed by many of her team-mates while PSG fans unveiled a banner in support of her. 

Hamraoui, in contrast, was regularly booed by fans. 

In February, Hamraoui was called up to the France team for the first time in three years. Diallo was not in the squad. In a game against the Netherlands, PSG players Marie-Antoinette Katoto and Kadidiatou Diani celebrated a goal by making an ‘A’ symbol. ‘It was a celebration for Aminata Diallo,’ Diani confirmed to the media after the game.

The strained relationships between players affected the remainder of PSG’s season. They lost their title to Lyon, who also knocked them out of the Champions League. Diallo left the club at the end of the campaign. A man was taken into custody in May in connection with the attack. Three more were arrested in September. 

Then came another twist as Diallo was re-arrested at the end of the month. The men in custody named Diallo as the organiser of the attack.

Police had bugged Diallo’s phone after she was released. Diallo had allegedly googled ‘how to break a kneecap’ and ‘dangerous drug cocktail’ in the build-up to the attack.

A bombshell report last month revealed Diallo's phone activity prior to the attack on Hamraoui

 A bombshell report last month revealed Diallo’s phone activity prior to the attack on Hamraoui

Diallo (far left) is said to have googled 'how to break a kneecap' as police bugged her phone

 Diallo (far left) is said to have googled ‘how to break a kneecap’ as police bugged her phone

Extracts from the Crime Prevention Brigade of the judicial police of Versailles, published by French newspaper Le Parisien, claims a ‘real hatred’ developed within Diallo towards her team-mate.

The Crime Prevention Brigade of the judicial police of Versailles report is said to suggest it has been a ‘slow psychological drift that has become, so to speak, pathological.’

Diallo was charged with ‘aggravated assault’ but has been released on probation. She continues to deny any involvement in the attack while a fifth man has now been arrested.

Diallo was interviewed by French radio station RMC sport last week and prominent YouTuber Parisien ou Rien in her first public appearances since her rearrest. In the radio interview, Diallo insisted she is 100 per cent innocent.

‘She has an answer to everything that seems to be incriminating,’ Le Monde journalist Pierre-Paul Bermingham tells Sportsmail.

‘There’s been a lot of broken relationships between team-mates, friends, even fans and players.

Diallo developed a 'real hatred', the new report claims

Hamraoui is said to have been left traumatised by the attack

Diallo (left) is said to have developed a ‘pathological’ hatred towards her then-PSG team-mate, claims a report from the Crime Prevention Brigade of the judicial police of Versailles

‘Hamraoui had a lot of abuse. For a long time people thought she had wrongly snitched on her team-mate out of spite. Hamraoui was getting so much abuse from the PSG ultras.’

One French journalist told Sportsmail that Diallo managed to paint a narrative that she, rather than Hamraoui, was the victim of the story. ‘Diallo is very clever. She defends herself very easily.

‘The narrative began to be Diallo is the real victim and Hamraoui is not the woman you think she is because she had an affair with Abidal.

‘She managed to convince people Hamraoui was an awful team-mate and said nasty things about her.

‘She even managed to get in touch with the mother of Mbappe to say I’m the victim of the story. When there was negotiations about the new contract of Mbappe, his mother said that it would be good if Diallo is offered a new contract because what happened to her is awful.’

Police may suspect a connection between Diallo and the assailants but proving a direct link may be difficult.

Another French journalist said: ‘There is no proof that she was in direct connection with them. I think she takes advantage of the fact there is no real proof.’

Public sympathy has shifted back towards Hamraoui, who is still contracted to PSG. The midfielder is yet to make an appearance for the club this season but is available for selection.

Diallo remains under judicial supervision with strict conditions until the investigation has been completed. It may be many years before this story is told in cinemas but it will undoubtedly make for compelling viewing.

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