Footballers do not make beautiful old people. Players in physical suffering when age is advancing at least numerous. Fabien Barthez is one of them and the former goalkeeper of the French team, world champion with the Blues in 1998, has no trouble explaining the pains with which he must compose on a daily basis.
“I am 50 years old (53 more precisely) and every morning, I need ten minutes to unlock myself. When I get up, I tell myself that I am an old man, he thus entrusted to
The team. When, from 15 to 36 years old, you have plunged in all directions, you should not be surprised. In terms of discs there is nothing. But hey, I'm not the only one. We are all farted. You only have come to the charity matches that we do with Pascal Olmeta, when you see them running, guys … “
In its sense, players' health is not sufficiently taken into account. But players are often the first officials.
“Once, I take a big crutch during a match. It was with Claude Puel. At halftime, the doc wants me to get out but I was always hot to play. Well, I went back there ”, he said.
Fabien Barthez, forced to play with a broken cheekbone
But his determination to continue playing despite the blow received will nevertheless have heavy consequences “In the evening, in the emergency room, I was opened in two and I was arrested for two months. I am the first manager “he blown, adding : “But there were also moments in my career, when I became older, where I preferred to jump matches ..”
And to believe Fabien Barthez, you should hardly count on coaches to preserve the health of their players. “When I was not protecting you. I happened to me to play when I should never have, he said. In Monaco, I had fractured my cheekbone. I should have replayed three weeks later. I was given to the field with a protective shell. Today, I have consequences. It has never changed. It's like that, I don't regret, it's part of my story. »»
