Jean-Baptiste Sarrazin / Photo credit: FLORENT GOODEN / DPPI media / DPPI via AFP 20:00 p.m., May 25, 2023

30 years ago, Olympique de Marseille won the Champions League against the great AC Milan. An exceptional performance for French football that is still a landmark today. On the occasion of the special broadcast of "Europe 1 Sport" dedicated to this anniversary, the former Marseille goalkeeper Fabien Barthez returned to this memory forever engraved in him.

"All this brings so much in the life of a player, but also in the life of man. Of this title in the final of the Champions League won in 1993 against AC Milan, the former Marseille goalkeeper Fabien Barthez has forgotten nothing. Exclusively in the show Europe 1 Sport (every evening from 20 p.m. to 23 p.m.), the former doorman of the France team evoked this title that marked the beginning of his career.

Freshly landed in the Phocaean city, the native of Lavelanet in the Ariège is immersed in 1992 in the great bath of Marseille after being noticed in Toulouse. At not even 22 years old, the goalkeeper has a first full season with OM. A job rewarded by a final won in the Champions League against AC Milan. But the latter struggles to realize at the moment. Today he retains only "flashes". "I remember looking into the tunnel. I was detailing the Milan players. The Maldini, Baresi, Van Basten: I looked at what they looked like in real life. I saw them at the Euro before that. And there, I find myself next to them in the corridor so you are admiring. I had them 50 centimeters from me. They were not opponents for me," recalled the 1998 world champion with Les Bleus.

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One-hour nap

With Basile Boli, Fabien Barthez is one of the heroes of this final. Repelling all the attempts of the Dutchman triple Ballon d'Or Marco Van Basten, the Marseille goalkeeper surprises and makes a name for himself on the European scene on the occasion of this final won 1-0. His secret? Serenity. He admits, Fabien Barthez "took a nap for an hour" during the bus ride to Munich, the place of the meeting. That nap meant "I was in the game. I think I was serene but especially happy to go and play this match in this mythical stadium against AC Milan," admitted Fabien Barthez in Europe 1 Sport.

Even today, the former Marseille goalkeeper uses this title to "transmit and exchange with young players". The only French club to have won a Champions League, OM is anchored for life in the French football landscape. For Fabien Barthez, "everyone remembers (this title) because it is the first. We talk about it as we talk about 98, "compared the latter. "Forever the first", a phrase that has become emblem of the Phocaean city. "The first few times it scores, then behind it's not the same. And especially with Olympique de Marseille, you know what this club represents in the landscape of French football, "concluded the former footballer turned racing driver.