Vincent Duluc, the famous journalist from l’Equipe, is slowly approaching his retirement. Currently, he is content to write editorials, but during his youth he did a lot of field work. And during one of his missions, he had the misfortune of getting beaten up in question.
The player is Frank Leboeuf. In a long interview with So Foot, the 98 world champion recounted this incident which dates back to the time when he played in Strasbourg. He even bragged about it.
Leboeuf: “It was mean and gratuitous”
“Duluc destroyed me in all the matches with Strasbourg. To the point that I banned him from the locker room after a defeat in Le Havre. He insisted on going in and it ended badly, I hit him, in front of other journalists. In England, then, I no longer gave a damn about the French press.” he said.
Duluc is not the only journalist who annoyed Leboeuf. The latter also has a grudge against an old pen of this newspaper:
“It’s hard to hear your mother cry for your first selection because there is half a page in L’Equipe saying that I have nothing to do with this group when there was a World Cup to go prepare. The journalist Patrick Urbini said that there were five or six players who could claim my place, including four who were injured… It was nasty and gratuitous.”
Finally, Leboeuf was present at the World Cup, victorious at home. Aimé Jacquet, with whom he still maintains very good relations, finally retained him. The famous bald defender even had the immense chance to play in the final against Brazil, in place of Laurent Blanc who was suspended.