Reduced to a bare minimum among the Blues while he shone in Serie A, Sébastien Frey had very harsh words against Raymond Domenech to explain this paradox.
Italy essentially brings back bad memories for Raymond Domenech. The fault, firstly in the World Cup final lost on penalties against the Nazionale in July 2006 after the exclusion of Zinedine Zidane for a header on Marco Materrazzi. And two years later, his troops would also lose ground against the Italians during the third group match at Euro 2008 (2-0). A defeat remembered for his improbable marriage proposal made live on television to Estelle Denis.
But according to Sébastien Frey, who spent most of his career on the other side of the Alps, Raymond Domenech “hated the Italians”. In any case, according to him, this is the reason for his downgrade in the French team. While he shone on the lawns of Serie A, to the point of being voted best goalkeeper in the Italian championship on several occasions, the former Cannes player, who played for Inter Milan, Parma or Fiorentina, had to settle for two meager selections in 2007 and 2008.
“He removed me from the French team because he hated the Italians and I played in Italy, said the native of Thonon-les-Bains. He told me face to face that he didn’t want to call me because I was playing in Italy. » But Sébastien Frey’s problems with the former French coach even went back to the Espoirs. “In U21, I told Domenech that I no longer wanted to play with him. He forced me to miss the Inter match and put me on the bench,” he continued. He told me he couldn’t see the Italians. (…) He did theater and he was convinced that the stars influenced the performances. The follies of a character.”
