PSG-OM, confirmed scandal!

This is the most awaited poster of the season in Ligue 1, and this has been the case since the early 1990s. Paris Saint-Germain has faced Olympique de Marseille on Sunday evening at the Parc des Princes. And if the Parisians have taken up the ascendant on their rivals in recent years, the tension is always to put before each meeting.

There are several significant moments in the history of PSG-OM, and one of the most famous of them dates back to the 1997-1998 season. In November, OM had come to win in the capital (1-2), in a meeting entering the legend following the penalty obtained by Fabrizio Ravanelli, who collapsed in the surface following an unusual contact (not to say nonexistent) with Eric Rabésandratana.

In the collective memory, it is one of the most famous simulations of French football, even if the Italian always assures that there was a fault. However, a revelation made by Xavier Gravelaine speaks volumes on the subject, and confirms that Ravanelli had planned his vice stroke.

“It was during the week before the match. During, he said to us, “Look, I'm going to show you how we do it”. He was leaving and all of a sudden, he made hooks then fell,
Tells Gravelaine in an interview with Eurosport.
We, behind, said to ourselves: “Ah, but there is Peno”. He was doing it really well and let go of a little wink. Then finally, he did the same thing in the park. He was so clever on the ground, he made everyone laugh, it was the commedia dell'arte. »»

Gravelaine, an ex from PSG and OM

Xavier Gravelaine is one of those players who played for the two clubs, a list which Adrien Rabiot is the last representative. The player trained in Nantes had left PSG for OM in 1996.

“” I arrived in Marseille under the Robert-Louis-Dreyfus era, a great gentleman. Before that, I had two loans in Strasbourg and Guingamp. In 1996, I had a year left with Paris and when OM contacted me, I insisted to discover this adrenaline in the Marseille jersey. In Marseille, I had first six difficult months but the supporters saw that I was wet the jersey (26 goals in two seasons). There, I lived a year and a half of happiness, recalls Xavier Gravelaine. I was really good in Marseille, I could have stayed for a long time. I was made for OM. Afterwards, I do not regret my passage to PSG because we were champions in 1994 and I played in a great group which was of top level. »»