The Bordelais Yacine Adli will meet the Marseillais this Sunday.
-
Christophe SIMON / AFP
The Girondins welcome this Sunday at 9 p.m. OM at Matmut Atlantique on the occasion of the 25th day of Ligue 1.
As every year, it will be a question of keeping the 43-year-old unbeaten record at home against Marseille.
The Bordelais will also want to return to victory after four straight defeats.
In any case, this record seems to be becoming more and more burdensome for the players who, in recent years, prefer to play a draw rather than to try and seek victory with panache.
It is a source of pride.
No, the pride of the Girondins de Bordeaux supporters.
Not a single one of them will tell you otherwise.
And even less in recent years as the scapular club is going through a long period of lean cows and endless downgrading in the hierarchy of French football.
"The invincibility [at home] against OM is an important marker in Gironde history," said Thibaud, a subscriber from the outset.
It must be said that after 43 years, it starts to do.
It is even an unprecedented series in high-level sport.
So necessarily every year before Bordeaux-OM (this Sunday at 9 p.m.), this figure is drawn up in the Gironde.
"At a time when we are losing our bearings a bit vis-à-vis this club and what it is becoming, it is one of the last things that allow us to hang on to our glorious history, ”he explains.
For Enzo, another Bordeaux supporter, “it's sad to say but it's still the only important thing we play.
“If the Marseillais often prefer to have fun today, Bordeaux side the pressure is therefore enormous.
Girondins supporters in Haillan before a Bordeaux-Marseille.
- Clément Carpentier / 20 Minutes
Like every year, the Ultramarines, the largest group of Girondins supporters, will go to the Haillan training center this Saturday (3:30 p.m.) to remind the players how much they care about this record.
But precisely, has this invincibility of 43 years not become a burden for the players?
A record more important than the three points?
This question arises today because, as Thibaud emphasizes, “we have often seen in recent years a Bordeaux, whose seasons are less glorious, stop playing to preserve the score and above all not lose this match.
As if the record was more important than the three points.
And the numbers tend to suggest it.
Since Marseille's last league victory in Gironde on October 1, 1977, the Girondins have been on a series of 35 games without defeat (21 wins and 14 draws) but since 2005, there have only been 5 wins for 11 draws.
In detail: a 0-0, eight 1-1, a 2-2 and a 3-3.
OM-Bordeaux: Is the rivalry between Marseille and Gironde supporters now one-sided?
https://t.co/p6vfR6nhAJ via @ 20minutesBord pic.twitter.com/xZCsZz3utO
- 20minutesbordeaux (@ 20minutesbord) December 8, 2019
During this period, the Marines and Whites only had to tear themselves away on two occasions to maintain their invincibility.
In 2006 with a goal from Fernando and in 2010 with a realization of Modeste in the last minutes.
Beyond the sporting rivalry, which has nothing to do with the 1980s or 1990s, today we are often witnessing "closed matches" admits Enzo, without great flights between Marseillais happy to bring back a point of the Southwest where it is never easy to come and play and Bordeaux people are happy to continue this series.
"After that it is true that if in the last minutes ..."
So what do the actors really think?
Is it just an impression?
Not easy to know, the subject is sensitive to the Girondins.
Very few wish to speak on the subject.
A former player, trained at the club and who has played a few Bordeaux-Marseille during the last decade, explains to
20 Minutes
, wishing to remain anonymous: “Imagine I speak and we lose.
It's not good so I don't prefer (
smile
).
Everything said before confusing knowing the questions.
Another is a bit more talkative on the subject.
He says he "approached this game with a lot of excitement" and "did everything to play it".
No question for him to be afraid of this invincibility.
“I played those games thoroughly and I did not think of playing a draw, he continues, it was the same for all my teammates in my opinion.
It's a game you have to win like any other.
You give yourself up and try to do everything to get the victory.
Point bar!
Really no math?
“After that it is true that if in the last minutes, there is still a draw, you are not going to open yourself in two and leave spaces to the opponent but it is just normal that.
"Finally, it is perhaps Stéphane Martin, former president of the Girondins, who best sums up the context:" I think that it weighs even if the players give it much less importance than the supporters.
But it is true that sometimes, it plays the draw.
"
A huge dilemma for supporters
In any case, the subject obsesses the supporters.
So much so that in recent years, some have been playing around with a few tricky questions.
Like, will you be ready to exchange a title of champion of France or a qualification in the European Cup against the end of this invincibility?
Thibaud and Enzo admit facing a huge dilemma: "When you're in love with football, you want to see your team play with panache and surpass themselves even more in this kind of meeting.
Now, I still attach a lot of importance to this series ”,“ on the one hand, I would like this series to stop so that we stop thinking about it and play our matches against Marseille with bravery. but on the other hand, this invincibility maintains the rivalry between the two clubs and I think that's important because in addition, sportingly, we are no longer at the level!
"
Our file on Girondins de Bordeaux
If Bordeaux were to lose one day against OM at home, the first "hopes that it will be after an open match with rhythm, etc."
If it is by having been small arms, without soul, that one came to give up arms without a fight, that would upset me a lot and I would be even more angry with them for not having avoided defeat.
"The conclusion of the second says it all:" I cannot wish OM a victory even if I think it could be beneficial to us ... "
Sport
OM-Bordeaux: Is the rivalry between Marseille and Gironde supporters now one-sided?
Sport
Bordeaux-Toulouse: Gasset has "seen nothing" and will give "a turn of the screw" before OM
Aquitaine
Marseilles
Girondins of Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Sport
OM
Soccer
League 1