Paris (AFP)

From her island of Martinique to the roof of Europe, footballer Wendie Renard, 31, has forged an extraordinary track record with Lyon where seven Champions Leagues reign.

An exceptional club career that this strong head has not been able to reproduce for the moment with the Blue, between disillusion and dissension.

She is seen before the others.

When, as a child, she started at the age of seven in a boys' team.

When grown up, she watches from the top of her 1.87 m on its surface or marks the head in the one opposite.

Wendie Renard has become a world reference in her position as a central defender, coupled with a formidable scorer (136 goals).

The list of his titles is dizzying, like his slender silhouette: fourteen French Championships, nine French Cups and seven C1, among others.

Lyon defender Wendie Renard scored a header against Juvisy in the Champions League semi-final on April 13, 2013 in Gerlanda Jeff PACHOUD AFP / Archives

- Early bereavement -

Her history with football began at the end of the 1990s. A period darkened by the death of her father, who died of cancer when she was only eight years old.

An early drama that "hardened (his) character", she explains to the Parisian in 2019.

The defender of the Bleues Wendie Renard, looking up to the sky in tribute to her father, after a successful penalty against Nigeria, at the World Cup on June 17, 2019 in Rennes FRANCK FIFE AFP / Archives

"In Martinique, I played with the boys until the age of fourteen. It helps you progress, physically, in the duels, it goes faster, you have to be strong. It was good times. They took it really well. They were my friends and I was the little princess of the team. They protected me a little, "said the player to AFP in 2015.

"His first match was a U13 tournament at Bellefontaine," recalls Patrick Cavelan, his cousin and trainer at Essor Prêchotin.

"She was playing with the older ones but she was already a main part of our team. We had finished third and Wendie was amazed by her talent."

At sixteen, she failed the entrance tests for the Clairefontaine national training center.

But thanks to the perseverance of Martinique's technical advisor, Jocelyn Germé, it bounced back in Lyon.

Lyon coach Farid Bentisti gave him his professional debut the following year.

Lyon defender Wendie Renard tackles Wolfsburg striker Ewa Pajor in the Champions League final on May 24, 2018 in Kiev FRANCK FIFE AFP

- European hegemony -

Become captain of OL at 23, she already had four national titles in her pocket when she played her first Champions League final in 2010 against Potsdam.

The Lyonnaises lost on penalties, but the following year they took their revenge (2-0) with an opener signed by Wendie Renard.

Lyon defender Wendie Renard, after scoring the first goal of the Champions League final against Potsdam, in London, May 26, 2011 GLYN KIRK AFP / Archives

After 2011, the C1 trophies pile up (2012, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020).

A raid that contrasts with the famine experienced in the French team by Renard and her Lyon teammates, who make up the backbone of the Blue.

Apart from a semi-final at the 2011 World Cup, the French are subscribed to quarterbacks, like that of the London Olympics in 2016. "We had an unworthy match. It's frustrating to win everything with the OL and nothing with the France team, ”then summarizes the one who has also become French captain.

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During its World Cup at home in 2019, France again falls in quarter against the Americans, future champions.

Wendie Renard finished top scorer for the Blue (four goals), but saw a difficult tournament marked by several blunders.

- "Four years of captaincy swept away" -

His relations with coach Corinne Deacon are complicated, to the point that the captain's armband was withdrawn in March 2018, for the benefit of Amandine Henry.

Wendie Renard "falls from the clouds".

Defender Wendie Renard and Bleues coach Corinne Deacon after elimination in the quarterfinals of the World Cup against the United States, June 28, 2019 in Paris FRANCK FIFE AFP / Archives

"Four years of captaincy swept away in less than five minutes", she says in her autobiography "My star", published at the end of 2019. She reports the scathing remarks of the coach: "+ We wanted to see you in relation to the armband of captain because I find that you are at 40% of your capacities in the French team. In Lyon, you walk, the level is easy, in the European Cup too, but the international level, you do not have it yet crossed +.

It therefore recovers it for Euro-2022.

Is this a reconciliation between the two women?

For the moment, Corinne Deacon has soberly explained that she "thought first of all about the general interest".

In this book, Renard (125 caps, 28 goals) prefers, however, to expand on her role as ambassador and the development of women's football.

"I would never have dreamed of seeing a little girl with my jersey on her back. It is a source of pride. Today little ones can identify themselves," she says.

As a teenager, she did not have a female model, due to lack of media coverage of the players.

But one striker arouses his admiration: Cristiano Ronaldo.

“I love him, his story is a pure example of determination,” she told Liberation in 2017. He left his island of Madeira without a round and, after years of hardship, he became the best. No one remembers the years when he cried all alone in his room. I do. "

The defender of OL and the Blue, Wendie Renard, June 6, 2017 in Paris JOEL SAGET AFP / Archives

Insularity, the loss of the father, selflessness, titles, records ... and head goals, like so many common milestones in the service of an insatiable ambition.

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