“Garnet legend for eternity”. Tuesday evening during FC Metz-RC Lens in Ligue 1, the Saint-Symphorien kop offered a magnificent tifo to pay tribute to Marcel Husson, who died on October 3 at the age of 88. He is a legend of the Grenats, since he was an emblematic defender of the 60s (173 matches) then the star coach of the club from 1984 to 1989. The Moselle team left its mark by achieving a feat at the Camp Nou.
Metz carried out a remontada completely crazy in the round of 16 of the 1984-1985 Cup Winners’ Cup, on October 3, 1984, 41 years to the day before the death of Marcel Husson. Promoted to head of the first team after being the director of the training center, he saw his players go down at home with a score of 4-2 against the Barcelona side led by Bernd Schuster.
No one imagined such a reversal of the situation. No French TV channel is broadcasting the match and the Camp Nou only attracts 24,000 spectators. Interviewed in 2019 by France Bleu Lorraine, Philippe Hinschberger, midfielder who spent his entire career at the club, confided that the players thought they would be eliminated “99%” and that they had their wives in Catalonia.
“Nirvana” in the heart of Camp Nou!
The Blaugrana will even open the scoring with Lobo Carrasco (34th), bringing the cumulative score to 5-2! It was Yugoslav striker Tony Kurbos who pulled out all the stops, first by equalizing in the 38th minute, a few seconds before a Barcelona strike (39th). In the second half, goalkeeper Michel Ettorre saved his team and Kubos scored two other goals at Amador (56th, 87th on a serve from his attacking partner Jules Bocandé) to offer qualification.
“It wasn’t euphoria, it was Nirvana. The guys, including the president, including Marcel Husson and ourselves, we were honestly on cloud nine”says photographer Jean-Marie Trimbour, from Republican Lorraine. FC Barcelona experienced a cursed evening and then banned the yellow jersey for more than 20 years! Four years later, in , Marcel Husson brought back FC Metz’s second Coupe de France after a success on penalties (5-4) against Sochaux.
