EXCLUSIVE - Jean-Pierre Papin: "Benzema is the best striker in the world"

Colin Abgrall 8:49 p.m., April 09, 2022

EXCLUSIVE

Jean Pierre Papin is a legend of French and world football.

Former Olympique de Marseille player with whom he scored 182 goals or AC Milan with whom he won the Champions League in 1994, the 58-year-old coach gave an exclusive interview to Europe 1. talks about his career and his career, the news of his former clubs as well as the two star strikers of the France team, Karim Benzema and Kylian Mbappé.

Did he achieve his dreams?

"I had this privilege"

My dream when I was little was to be a professional footballer, period.

So everything that happened, the trophies, the Champions League, the France team, these are dreams.

But it is a privilege today to achieve your dreams.

I had this privilege.

Apart from the World Cup, and again, I did it and I finished third (in 1986).

The 1998 World Cup, his greatest frustration?

"I was prepared for"

Elie Baup, who had just taken the Bordeaux team to replace Guy Stéphan, replaced me.

This means, no World Cup since Aimé Jacquet had asked that all holders be retained.

So I was not.

There was a lot of disappointment, frustration because I told myself that it was good to stop there, that whatever happened, I had decided not to continue for long.

It was a last big meeting.

I had prepared for.

I had scored a lot of goals in Bordeaux, but on the other hand, the last three months, I have been a substitute so I am not part of the group.

His time in Bruges: "I wanted to be different"

I would say that is the big challenge.

Because at the time, I was 20 years old, I had just had a good season with Valenciennes where we were predicted the descent and finally we played the leading roles.

I didn't want to be like the others.

I wanted to be different and I wanted to go abroad if I could.

At the time, I had Lille, Lens, I had other clubs that wanted me to sign with them.

And then there was Bruges.

There was the meeting with Raoul Lambert (historic player of Club Brugge), which changed a lot of things.

Above all, there was the meeting with the president of Valenciennes (Alain Cleuet at the time) who told me 'if you don't go to Bruges, we're going out of business' and I felt obliged.

I was motivated, but I felt obligated.

Does he know that he has had a great career?

"I shouldn't do what my father told me"

I know it.

But in fact, the beginning of my career corresponds to a discussion with my grandmother.

It is very simple.

She knew that I was motivated and that I only thought about football, she knew that my life was going to be like that.

She knew it and she said to me one day, 'your father was the same as you.

But he always made the wrong choices.'

For me, it was clear.

I didn't have to do what my father told me and every time I had a road to take, I went to see my father and I did the opposite.

For Bruges, I go to see my father and I say to him 'can I sign in Bruges?'

and he tells me 'there is never a Frenchman who has succeeded in Belgium.'

The next day, I signed in Bruges.

His look at his career: "There is something very important, it's luck"

Nothing was won in advance in my career.

In football, there is one thing that is very important, but we never talk about it, it's luck.

And luck isn't just about scoring goals.

Luck is taking the right paths, meeting the right people.

It is to never get hurt.

We never talk about it, but that's 50% of the thing.

The adventure at AC Milan and his view of today's Milan: "Milan is part of the new cycle of European football"

When Milan arrived, the idea was to work with Marco Van Basten, the most prolific duo in football.

I had this chance to play a few times with him.

Sometimes it was because Marco injured his ankle very quickly and in the end he didn't play at all except for three or four matches.

It was in fact the first real training center that I worked with since in Marseille, we didn't have the Commanderie.

There were a few first fruits, but it was not the same.

It was not yet topical in Bruges, it was around the stadium and there, you enter another world.

Milan is another world.

After its phenomenal successes for years, Milan has had a hole that every important European club experiences one day.

They took about fifteen years, but today

today, they have rebuilt a team and they have other projects.

Milan is part of the new cycle of European football.

On Olivier Giroud: "He's someone who never gives up"

Olivier is a friend so I'm very happy for him.

He is someone who never gives up.

He is a surface killer.

He's a real goalscorer as there are more of them and as we do more because of like that, there won't be many more.

Today, we rely more on speed on three attackers, maybe even four.

But when you only have one, you have to play with it.

Milan understood this well.

She's a very nice person.

He does not doubt.

He has his way of playing and does not change.

He doesn't try to do what he can't do.

He must stay in the France team at least for the World Cup in Qatar, it's a certainty because it also gives another solution in case you are in danger.

And I think Olivier deserves it no matter what happens with the season he is having.

His time at Bayern Munich: "I thought Bayern was for me"

Bayern, I think it's a little bit my regret because I experienced the injury for the first time in my career, and that changes everything.

I think the club and German football was what suited me best.

I thought that Bayern was the club that was made for me and I think we started off on a bad footing at the start.

Me, I needed a lot of practice.

I arrived at a club where the preparation was a bit truncated compared to too many charity matches, etc.

Bayern do a lot of things for that and I went through it, because I need to prepare myself, especially when you leave Milan.

In Milan, the preparation is one of the hardest in the world and when you don't have that, you miss the essence.

In Munich, I do

didn't have and I got hurt very quickly and I never came back.

It was very difficult to live psychologically.

It was the first time I was injured.

It was hard because we had just learned that Émilie (her daughter) had quite serious problems.

We had just learned all that.

Me who was injured, me who couldn't play, the language barrier that was starting to be felt.

Because when you're at the club, everything is fine.

We talk, we jabber and we learn very quickly.

But when you are injured, you are at home.

There's no one who speaks German, we all speak French at home and I unwittingly put myself aside.

I pulled away and it was very hard.

was the first time I hurt myself.

It was hard because we had just learned that Émilie (her daughter) had quite serious problems.

We had just learned all that.

Me who was injured, me who couldn't play, the language barrier that was starting to be felt.

Because when you're at the club, everything is fine.

We talk, we jabber and we learn very quickly.

But when you are injured, you are at home.

There's no one who speaks German, we all speak French at home and I unwittingly put myself aside.

I pulled away and it was very hard.

was the first time I hurt myself.

It was hard because we had just learned that Émilie (her daughter) had quite serious problems.

We had just learned all that.

Me who was injured, me who couldn't play, the language barrier that was starting to be felt.

Because when you're at the club, everything is fine.

We talk, we jabber and we learn very quickly.

But when you are injured, you are at home.

There's no one who speaks German, we all speak French at home and I unwittingly put myself aside.

I pulled away and it was very hard.

the language barrier which was beginning to be felt.

Because when you're at the club, everything is fine.

We talk, we jabber and we learn very quickly.

But when you are injured, you are at home.

There's no one who speaks German, we all speak French at home and I unwittingly put myself aside.

I pulled away and it was very hard.

the language barrier which was beginning to be felt.

Because when you're at the club, everything is fine.

We talk, we jabber and we learn very quickly.

But when you are injured, you are at home.

There's no one who speaks German, we all speak French at home and I unwittingly put myself aside.

I pulled away and it was very hard.

The adventure at the Girondins de Bordeaux: "I loved this club and I still love it"

It was a great adventure because I needed a club like that to finish.

I am lucky that the Girondins come to pick me up in Munich.

I meet Rolland Courbis and he makes me sign very quickly.

And Bordeaux, it was a breath of fresh air.

I loved this club and still do.

It's been 25-26 years now that I live in the region there, and I think for nothing in the world I want to leave.

It saddens me to see it like that, because it's already one of the most beautiful stadiums in France, and when you have such a stadium, you must have a great team.

I think there are very good players, but I think that in this team there is no soul, there is no DNA of the Girondins with training,

where the players who were at the training center take the place of the holders.

I believe that the urgency today is already to save the season and it is possible.

There are matches that are going to happen, which are very important, against Metz, against Saint-Étienne, clubs which are just ahead.

But it is not a team that is formatted to maintain itself.

It is the great disappointment of many teams which, the day they find themselves in a complicated situation, do not succeed because it is a team which is made to play in the top five roles.

And today, we have to fight.

But I think these are players who don't know how to fight.

which are super important, against Metz, against Saint-Étienne, clubs which are just ahead.

But it is not a team that is formatted to maintain itself.

It is the great disappointment of many teams which, the day they find themselves in a complicated situation, do not succeed because it is a team which is made to play in the top five roles.

And today, we have to fight.

But I think these are players who don't know how to fight.

which are super important, against Metz, against Saint-Étienne, clubs which are just ahead.

But it is not a team that is formatted to maintain itself.

It is the great disappointment of many teams which, the day they find themselves in a complicated situation, do not succeed because it is a team which is made to play in the top five roles.

And today, we have to fight.

But I think these are players who don't know how to fight.

And today, we have to fight.

But I think these are players who don't know how to fight.

And today, we have to fight.

But I think these are players who don't know how to fight.

Could he take back Bordeaux?

"It would be up my alley"

Me, I had the chance all the same to do Strasbourg, Lens... Bordeaux, yes, that would be something that would be up my alley.

I live there.

On Kylian Mbappé's future: "He just has to fulfill his dreams"

I'm not going to say what he should do.

He just has to make his dreams come true.

I think his dream is to go to Real Madrid and I think he will go there.

When you go to Real Madrid, you don't take a lot of risks.

You can think that today, if you change category, you will win this Champions League.

Given how he plays, for me, he does not take any risks.

Whether at PSG, Real or even elsewhere, with his qualities, he can play in any club in the world.

On Karim Benzema: 'The best striker in the world'

Karim, for me, is the best striker in the world.

He took a degree there in a few months that he never had before and I think it strengthened him in a lot of things.

Now that he is properly sheathed, he manages to play with his head.

If you want to stay as long as possible, at some point your body has to follow and I think Karim understood that very well.

The last dream for Karim is the Ballon d'Or.

I think today he is one step ahead.

His association 9 de coeur: "We've been doing the same thing for 27 years"

It was never to help Emilie.

It was to help families who had the same problems with their children as we had with Emilie.

What allowed us to turn the tide a little compared to our daughter, who is 100% autistic, is that at one point, I think she was not in the same world as us.

We had to find a method that could at least bring her back to our world.

And we had the chance to go to Philadelphia, to do the Doman method for eight years and we were lucky that Émilie came back to our world a little.

And that is just beautiful.

Even if she does not speak, even if she is not like the others today, she is with us.

It's moving to talk about it because we started from scratch to achieve results that are exceptional.

Because seeing Emilie every day, understanding her, taking her to a restaurant, going shopping with us, that's just what we hoped for in our misfortune.

We created the association at the start because this method was very decried in France and it was the only one we had to help Emilie make progress.

After the trip to Philadelphia, foreign journalists had started to mark anything, that I had gone to the United States to have my daughter operated on for the brain, etc.

In fact, I went to a French mission and I

talked about what I had done, what I had experienced.

And in the week that followed, I received two mailbags in Munich containing 4000 letters from people who had the same problem and who had no solution.

And we made the association just to give the information.

We've been doing the same thing for 27 years.

Since then, we have found many other methods so we direct people to methods that can really help improve the daily lives of their children."

we do the same thing.

Since then, we have found many other methods so we direct people to methods that can really help improve the daily lives of their children."

we do the same thing.

Since then, we have found many other methods so we direct people to methods that can really help improve the daily lives of their children."

On his coaching position in Chartres: "Here, there is a real project"

We always learn about football.

The job of coach, we know that it is very random.

A year is good, when it's not good we kindly kick you out.

I have always believed in my star and I knew that at some point I had to go back there because first of all I needed it.

Florence understood that I needed it, so we traveled from Gironde to Eure et Loir because there was a real project here.

I think that when you're a coach, it's good to have a project.

Trained to train, honestly, I didn't like it.

Here, there is a project to move up to the next level (in National).

There are seven matches, we are not dead yet and we will try our luck until the end.

But there is the construction of a stadium, there is the question of

a training center.

And then, we have to develop this team.

This year, we got off to a very bad start and we are coming back very strong.

I would like to complete my adventure here because I did it for Gérard Solaire, who is my president.

His biggest regret: "Alex Ferguson wanted to take me to Manchester United"

Not going to Manchester United.

I was at Bayern and I was injured and one evening I received a voicemail message.

It was Éric Cantona who told me that Alex Ferguson wanted to take me to Manchester, even injured, to redo the duet with Éric at the time.

And Bayern never wanted to let me go.

They didn't want to know anything.

It was the biggest regret of my career.

Will Marseille finish second in Ligue 1?

"A club that deserves to be up there"

It should.

It would be good because it's a club that deserves to be up there.

The fans are amazing, they love football, they love their players.

From time to time, they are a little beyond what one can imagine for a supporter.

But Marseille, that's it.

Not everyone can play in Marseille because in Marseille you need a special character.