2024-04-15 16:49:07
Seven to two. It’s a dose. Marseille, until now five times national champion, is the third biggest club in France – only behind Saint Étienne (9) and Reims (6). We are in the last round of the 1979-80 1st division, Marseille is in the relegation places and visits last-placed Brest. Surprise of surprises, it ends seven-two. To Brest.
Big herd. Marseille no longer has any hope of leaving second-to-last place, sandwiched between Brest and Lyon (look, another Olympique), and takes seven. The following day’s sports newspapers announced the death of Marseille, sunk sportingly and administratively, without king or castle. It continued like this for a good few years. Until more precisely 1986, when an irreverent young politician called Bernard Tapie takes control of the club, as Jean Carrieu’s successor.
Braggart and insolent qb, Tapie is already a force of nature. He is the owner of the La Vie Claire food empire, sponsor of the most famous cycling team in the world and winner of the Tour in 1985 (Bernard Hinault) and 1986 (Greg LeMond). His first decision at Marseille is to hire a right-hand man and appoints a wise man called Michel Hidalgo, European champion with France in 1984, as director of football.
The first hires make an entire city dream. Striker Papin is the first to sign, he who caught the attention of the French team during the World Cup 86 with two goals, one vs. Canada, in the debut, another vs. Belgium, in the third and fourth place award game. He is followed by Alain Giresse (short midfielder, chest out, always with his head raised and the ball at his feet), Karl-Heinz Förster (German centre-back of choice, finalist in the 86 World Cup) and Jean-François Domergue (full-back -French left-back from Euro-84 and unlikely hero of the semi-final vs. Portugal, with two goals against Bento).
The reinforcements adapted wonderfully and Marseille finished the championship in second place, four points behind Bordeaux, also winner of the French Cup, vs. Marseille. Always aiming to improve the squad, Tapie opened his purse strings in the summer of 1987 and brought out two more names of undisputed level: the French defender Yvon Le Roux (curiously starting for Brest in that 7:2 in 1980) and the German goalscorer Klaus Allofs . Marseille 1987-88 finished seventh in the 1st division and reached the semi-finals of the Cup Winners’ Cup, eliminated by Bergkamp’s Ajax.
Success is right there to sow. Domergue leaves for Caen and Giresse announces his withdrawal, Tapie goes to get Sauzée from Sochaux and Cantona from Auxerre. At just 22 years old, Cantona is already known for his acts of indiscipline. And also, go, for football quality. To compose the bouquet, Cantona is originally from Marseille. “I always grew up thinking about my debut for Marseille at the Velodrome.” HERE’S him fulfilling a dream. Short-lived. It’s because?
Easy, Cantona gets involved and is suspended from the club. Before, he forms an attacking duo with Papin and, together, they score 16 goals by the end of the first round. In January 1989, in a French city called Sedan, Marseille joins Torpedo Moscow for a charity game in favor of the victims of an earthquake in Armenia. The setting is bucolic for everyone. Except for Cantona, irritable from the start. Sometimes, still in the first half, the referee goes to the Marseille bench to speak to coach Gérard Gili. Sink or swim. Cantona takes a deep breath, the game starts again and it’s split. Cantona is then replaced. On his way to the touchline, he kicks the ball towards the fans and takes off his shirt.
Tapie is furious in the stands. And, days later, he suspends him for a month. During this time, no one sees him. To him, Cantona. After this period, I’m going I’m going quotes quotes. Where is he the kid? In Barcelona, negotiating the future. No way. Yes way. Cantona goes to Barcelona and only doesn’t sign because Cruijff is thinking about Van Basten. Neither. Van Basten remains at Milan, while Cantona is loaned to Bordeaux.
Life continues in Marseille, and is riding the crest of a wave. Thanks to Papin’s goals, 11 goals in the first round and 11 more in the second. He is the top scorer in the 1st division, with 22. And Marseille are crowned French champions in a face-to-face with PSG, resolved with four rounds to go with a goal from the middle of Rue de Sauzée in the 90th minute, in the middle of the Velodrome. The madness in the stadium is overwhelming.
Having achieved the objective of becoming French champion, the dream of winning the Champions Cup follows. To this end, the team is reinforced with a constellation of stars, at the (high) level of Francescoli, Waddle, Mozer, Tigana and Amoros. It’s a luxury quintet, of a quality never seen in those parts.
The second championship campaign is turbulent, due to Bordeaux’s high pressure and also Waddle’s adaptation to French football. The English star starts the pre-season later than his other teammates and only catches them in December, on the occasion of a 2:1 vs. PSG at Parque dos Príncipes in response to their 3:0 home defeat vs. Bordeaux.
The goalkeepers’ anguish after two saved penalties
It’s the night that Waddle scores an unforgettable goal, with a hat-trick past goalkeeper Jöel Bats and a shot with his heel, with an open goal. The euphoria is contagious among Marseille fans, we have crack. And the truth is that Waddle performs a very important encore vs. Bordeaux, at the Velodrome. After all, Waddle has nine goals. Plus Francescoli’s 11, Papin’s 30 and Vercruysse’s 9. In fact, it was a solitary goal from Vercruysse in a 1:0 vs. Caen securing the bi.
As for the European dream, well, that was betrayed by an arm of Vata in that historic ½ final in the middle of the Estádio da Luz. The Champions Cup would only be held three years later, in 1993, vs. Milan. Still with Tapie at the helm of another very strong Marseille, without Waddle or Papin and, yes, with Abedi Pelé plus Boksic.
(Author writes using the old spelling.)
2024-04-15 16:49:07