It is in February 2008, in the program Téléfoot, that
Fabien Barthez officially announced the end of his career. It had already already been almost a year since he had no longer played the slightest match, following his chaotic departure from FC Nantes.
The “Divine Bald” could have hung up the crampons much earlier. During the year 2003 precisely, when he had lost his place as a holder in Manchester United. Indeed, it was Tim Howard who then had the confidence to keep the cages of the Red Devils.
“I was not very well at that time and Ferguson told me that I would never replay it here. When I resumed with the Blues, I warned Jacques Santini and Bruno Martini that I stopped football, I didn't want to play anymore. And then they looked at me, they laughed and they said to me, 'Are you going to do, sin?'. And thread by needle, it was left ”, he revealed during the podcast the voice of the guards.
Fabien Barthez, the bitterness of the 2006 World Cup
Fabien Barthez will then bounce back to Olympique de Marseille and will be the goalkeeper of the Blues at the 2006 World Cup. A contrasting memory for him. “As much 1998 and 2000, I don't think about it. As much 2006, I think about it once or twice a monthhe confesses. It still hurts because for me, it was over. (…) My only wish was to put the armband back to Zizou and go get the World Cup together. »»
Between 1994 and 2006, the native of Lavelanet played 87 matches with the French team. The 2006 World Cup final against Italy in Berlin will be its final selection with the Blues.
