“Zidane is France, we don’t disrespect the legend”... The strong phrases of the football year

Noël Le Graët already had no shortage of pots and pans. In fact, he already had a complete kitchen set before attacking Zinedine Zidane in January 2023. Questioned on RMC, while the future of Didier Deschamps was not yet sealed, the now ex-president of the FFF assured that he “would not even have taken (Zidane) on the phone”. And to add, regarding the rumors which sent “ZZ” to the head of the Brazilian selection at the time: “I have nothing to shake.” And despite all his previous slip-ups, it was this one that caused his downfall, the final straw. The world of football was moved by this lack of consideration for the former Blues playmaker, Kylian Mbappé in the lead. “Zidane is France, we don’t disrespect the legend like that,” railed the scorer for PSG and the French team on social networks. Mbappé, a voice that carries. The beginning of the end for “NLG”.

“Leo Messi went to heaven with Argentina, he won everything in recent years, and with Paris he went through hell, he and I went through hell.” Signed Neymar, who left his elegance in the closet when discussing his six years at PSG, and the two seasons during which La Pulga wore the colors of the capital club. What the Brazilian forgets to say is that it is largely he who is responsible for his Parisian torments, his injuries, his excesses and his regular desires elsewhere. The Parc des Princes was ready to give him all its love during his record transfer (€222 million) in 2017. He never wanted it. And here he is now in Saudi Arabia, the only host country that could allow him to continue to receive a salary as pharaonic as in Paris, or even more. Parisian supporters quickly welcomed the departure of the “rude” Neymar, and it is not this kind of declaration that will make them change their minds… As for his Argentine comrade, he does not need a exegesis: the world champion is doing very well on his own. “These were two years during which I was not happy,” said the new Inter Miami player. When you don't do anything to integrate, it's harder... Neymar and Messi believed that everything was due to them. They paid to see. Fortunately, Paris has turned the page.

Also read: Injuries, C1, controversies… Neymar's (real) record at PSG

Ousted from Olympique Lyonnais in May 2023, a few months after the takeover of the club by John Textor, Jean-Michel Aulas signed a tackle with both feet off the American businessman. On August 20, OL was already in crisis (2 matches, 2 defeats) and the coach, Laurent Blanc, seemed lost. “We only hear White talking and a few players. Radio silence at the top, no problem Botafogo is first,” quips a user on Twitter, referring to the fact that Textor also owns the Brazilian club Botafogo and seems to care more about it than OL. “He (Textor) can send the Botafogo coach,” replies Aulas, even though rumors speak of contacts between Bruno Lage, stationed at Botafogo, and Lyon. Aulas, president of Lyon from 1987 to 2023, will pretend his account was hacked. To others, Jean-Michel...

Still in the series Olympique Lyonnais in crisis, Moussa Dembélé gave substance to the expression “shoot the ambulance”. His former club was still stuck in last place in Ligue 1 when the center forward emptied his bag at the end of September, during an interview with Foot Mercato. He portrays the leaders, in particular Bruno Cheyrou and Vincent Ponsot, as “arrogant and incompetent” manipulators, who “communicate non-stop” and seek to “fume the supporters”. For the 27-year-old player, today at Al-Ettifaq after five years in the Rhône, the Lyon management has “no long-term footballing project, no vision” and is “only playing the flute”. And Dembélé returned to Cheyrou's comments comparing footballers to active people: “I don't know where he thought he was that day, maybe in a slave boat or in a cotton field where people are objects or numbers. I'm not an asset, I'm a human being! You have to respect people.” The Franco-Malian puts his heart forward.

New star of Tottenham, Dele Alli was the dream of all England between 2015 and 2017. He never realized his potential and opened up about his life last July, at the age of 27. For The Overlap, interviewed by former great player Gary Neville, Alli said: “When I was 6, I was sexually abused by my mother's friends. My mother was an alcoholic.” The throat tightens, the tears flow. “When I was 7, I started smoking. At 8 years old, I started dealing drugs,” continues Alli, who broke off all contact with his parents. He also recounts his time in a rehab center for 6 weeks, after a failed loan to Besiktas at the start of the year, due to an addiction to sleeping pills, and says he thought about retiring at 24, already at rock bottom. sportingly. Under contract at Everton but physically injured, he has not yet appeared in the Toffees squad this season. But he has already accomplished his greatest action: finding the courage to evoke his demons.

In tough times with Manchester United and also with the Portuguese selection during the Qatari World Cup, Cristiano Ronaldo left European football for Saudi Arabia at the end of December 2022. An inglorious twilight for one of the best players in the history of this sport. Especially since the person concerned had promised never to give in to this type of exotic and ultra-remunerative siren. Since then, his decision has been seen in a different light: from Karim Benzema to Neymar, including Sadio Mané, N'Golo Kanté and others, the stars are flocking to the Saudi championship. Enough to feed the inordinate ego of the five-time Ballon d'Or winner, who declared this in mid-July to Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano: “In a year, more and more great players will come to Saudi Arabia. In one year the Saudi championship will have overtaken the Turkish league and the Dutch league. When I joined Juventus, Serie A was dead. After I signed it, it was revived. Wherever Cristiano goes, he arouses more interest.” Classic Ronaldo. In this case, the millions that the Saudi leaders have swallowed up in salaries or transfers have more to do with the many good, even very good players who imitated “CR7” last summer. But the Portuguese served to give credibility to the thing.

The situation was becoming untenable. A few months before the Women's World Cup last summer, several Blues executives announced their withdrawal. Starting with the captain, Wendie Renard. “I can no longer support the current system, which is far from meeting the requirements of the highest level. It’s a sad day but necessary to preserve my mental health,” the French defender indicated on social networks. And added: “My face can hide the pain but my heart suffers... and I don’t want to suffer anymore.” Renard never mentioned the name of Corinne Diacre, but it was the coach who focused the bulk of his criticism. And after her departure, the Lyonnaise quite logically announced that she was available again for the French team. An authentic mutiny led by the players! It was Hervé Renard who took over.

After finishing second in its C1 group behind Borussia Dortmund but ahead of Milan and Newcastle, PSG inherited Real Sociedad in the round of 16. A good draw on paper, which gives a glimpse of the hope of a first qualification for the quarters since 2021. At the start of the season, however, the capital club had displayed a certain detachment towards this major Cup. much desired ears. “The Champions League is not an obsession, not a pressure,” assured Marquinhos in mid-September, before entering the fray against Dortmund. The captain fully adhered to the new policy promoted in July by Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, who wanted to give his team “all the time to work” “without worrying about immediate results”. Eager to bring PSG into a “new era”, the Qatari president made a commotion during the summer transfer window by chasing away a few historic players including Leo Messi, Neymar and Marco Verratti to make room for around ten new players. “I never said we had to win the Champions League with Luis Enrique. I was very clear: what I want is for us to play good football,” he explained. What if a liberated Paris finally dreamed bigger?

Two days before the last day of the 2022-2023 Ligue 2 season, when the Girondins de Bordeaux were no longer on a favorable waiver to access Ligue 1, Gérard Lopez sent an insulting message to the regard to Nicolas Rainville, the referee designated for the (important) match against Rodez Aveyron Football: “In the ass! But we’ll make do! 42,000 people he won't dare screw us,” the owner and manager of the Bordeaux club had published on his social networks… before deleting his message. The fact remains that his words were anything but elegant…