Got beef: Ribery bites back in gold steak storm

BERLIN - French star Franck Ribery on Saturday launched a foul-mouthed response after he was criticized for eating a gold-coated steak, telling his critics: "I will spend my money how I like."

On Thursday, the 35-year-old Bayern Munich player posted a video on social media of a visit to a steak house owned by celebrity Turkish restaurateur Salt Bae and rubbing his hands before tucking into a huge chop coated in gold.

The video drew ferocious criticism before Ribery - who earns an estimated eight million euros ($9.1 million) a year with the German champion - hit back.

"Let's start with the envious, the angry, surely born because of a broken condom," read the first of the posts on Ribery's Twitter account before he directed some obscenity-laced insults at his detractors.

"I owe you nothing, my success is above all thanks to God," the post continued. "To me, to my relatives and to those who believed in me, for the others, you were only pebbles in my socks."

On Sunday, Bayern said it will impose "a heavy fine" on Ribery for the outburst. "I had a long talk with Franck and I let him know that we would impose a heavy fine on him and he accepted it," Bayern's sporting director, Hasan Salihamidzic, said in Qatar, where the team is on a winter training camp.

German tabloid Bild reported that the meal was in Dubai where Salt Bae owns the Nusr-Et restaurant. Bild reported that the steak cost 1,200 euros (about $1,370).

Contacted by AFP, the restaurant said that its most expensive golden steak costs 478 euros.

One of the journalists who criticized Ribery was Audrey Pulvar, president of the charitable Nicolas Hulot foundation.

She had tweeted: "Mr. @FranckRibery if you do not know what to do with your money, there are plenty of causes to fund and support, worldwide."

In another tweet on Saturday, Ribery showed Pulvar wearing a pair of glasses that he said cost 3,000 euros and said: "I do what I want with my money.

"When I donate (because I was taught to give when I earn a lot...) Why does not a major national media broadcast that? No, you prefer to talk about the holidays that I go on with my family, you scrutinize my actions, what I eat, etc!"

Ummah Charity, an aid organization, tweeted: "Without any intention to justify anything, we confirm that @FranckRibery is one of our most generous donors. Thanks to him and his wife who spend lavishly to finance our humanitarian activities..."

Bayern returns to Bundesliga action at Hoffenheim on Jan 18.

Agence France-Presse