Robert Herbin, the "Sphinx" of AS Saint-Etienne, is dead

Text by: RFI Follow

Robert Herbin, legendary coach of AS Saint-Etienne, died on Monday April 27 at the age of 81. He had been hospitalized for days with severe heart and lung failure.

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"  The world of football is in mourning,  " moved journalist Jacques Vendroux, announcing the death of the famous coach of Saint-Etienne on Twitter. "  An eternal legend,  " soberly tweeted the club in the evening, whose profile image and banner are dressed in black.

Robert Herbin, 1939-2020.

An eternal legend. pic.twitter.com/BGTUtEPEaj

Red hair, curly, proudly erected, Robert Herbin fits perfectly with the 1970s. A decade in which his team is one of the symbols. At the time, variety was everywhere. And the song is true: the best are often the Greens.

As a player, in the sixties, Robert Herbin already won many titles with his club of hearts, and argued with the Blues at the 1966 World Cup in England. Shortly after, the Parisian by birth takes over the bench from Saint-Etienne where he breathes a breath of freshness. He is young and relies on young people. Under his leadership, the Greens won four championships and three French Cups.

Above all, in 1976, they are the heroes of an epic that fascinates France. Saint-Etienne reaches the final of the prestigious Cup of champion clubs. In Glasgow, Larqué, Revelli, Santini and the others shine against the great Bayern Munich, but each time receive the amount. Square posts that are now part of the legend of French football. Bayern eventually won 1-0 but Robert Herbin and his men were magnificent losers and their return to the country was triumphant.

Its great era in green ends at the beginning of the 1980s. Subsequently, the one nicknamed the Sphinx struggles to find the summits.

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