Montpellier (AFP)
The former goalkeeper of the French football team Bruno Martini, current deputy director of the Montpellier training center, died at the age of 58, announced Tuesday the Hérault club, where he had put an end to his playing career in 1999.
Martini (31 selections between 1987 and 1996) had suffered a cardio-respiratory arrest at the beginning of last week at the Grammont training center, on the outskirts of Montpellier, before being transported to Arnaud de Villeneuve hospital in a bad state.
The former goalkeeper of the Blues, originally from Nevers, took over in the selection of Joël Bats, semi-finalist of the 1986 World Cup and European champion in 1984, before handing over to Fabien Barthez, preferred to Parisian Bernard Lama.
Before evolving at the highest level, Martini had become European Champion Espoir (1988) within a promising generation led by Eric Cantona, Laurent Blanc, Vincent Guérin ...
Bruno Martini, renowned for his sobriety and discretion, appeared at Auxerre, where he was trained, before joining Montpellier in the summer of 1995, where he ended his career four years later.
With the Burgundy team, under the authority of the emblematic Guy Roux, he played multiple epics in the Uefa Cup, playing a semi-final against Dortmund (1993), and winning the Coupe de France (1994) in front of his future club.
At the end of his brilliant career, Martini, a respected figure in French football, joined the national technical direction, where he was responsible for more than a decade (1999-2010) for the French doormen and set up the training of high-level guards.
Holder of a coaching diploma, he also provided a short interim at the head of the Montpellier team alongside Pascal Baills, after the resignation of Rolland Courbis in December 2015 and before the appointment of Frédéric Hantz at the end of January 2016.
© 2020 AFP