France-Sénégal : Desailly révèle les causes de la défaite des Bleus face aux Lions
He was there. From a cross by El Hadji Diouf, the ball went between his legs before being headed home by Pape Bouba Diop, who scored Senegal's 1-0 victory over France in the opening match of the 2002 World Cup. Marcel Desailly was, in fact, the captain of Les Bleus. In an interview given to an international digital media outlet and reprinted by Record, less than a week before the two teams met again for the first match of Group I on June 16 in New York, the retired footballer reflected on this defeat, clearly trying to explain the reasons behind it. "We were playing the opening match," the former defender recalled. "We were the defending champions. We had also won the European Championship. So, we were under pressure. Most of us were 31 or 32 years old."
Twenty-four years later, Desailly prefers to laugh about this surprising setback. "It's funny, because in 2002, when we came to play against Senegal, we had the three top scorers. David Trezeguet was the top scorer in Italy, Thierry Henry in England, and Djibril Cissé in France. But that's how it is."
However, the former Marseille, AC Milan, and Chelsea player doesn't believe this defeat will haunt Kylian Mbappé and his teammates when they face Sadio Mané and his side. "Many of the current players in the team weren't even born then," he smiled. "They'll handle it well, without thinking it's a curse or that they'll suffer the same fate as France in 2002."
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