“Eric Di Meco, the rock of the Monegasque left corridor”title The AS Monaco site in an article in order to retrace the passage of the omentatic left side of OM on the rock from 1994 to 1998. The native of Avignon is a legend of the Marseille club (277 matches from 1980 to 1994). He won the 1993 Champions League, two years before the lost final in Bari, and was champion of France four times (1989, 1990, 1991, 1992).
With the relegation of the Marseille club to D2, Di Meco joined the Monegasque rival, at the age of 31, and was then part of an incredible armada. He found his Marseille friends Fabien Barthez and Basile Boli, found teammates of the Blues Lilian Thuram and Emmanuel Petit and discovered very young Thierry Henry and David Trezeguet, also future world champions 98. The genius of Sonny Anderson, also recruited at OM, and Ali Benarbia Jean Tigana to win division 1 ahead of PSG in 1997.
“There is this title of champion of France and this extraordinary year in 1997, even if that year I play little. At that time we have a superb team, with players who have made extraordinary careers abroad behind. And then there was a great atmosphere. I remember in particular meals together on Sunday after losing the (restaurant) Stars'n'Bars, with women and children because there was a little daycare ”says Di Meco to the AS Monaco site.
Eric Di Meco, the importance of the atmosphere in the group
And to remember with emotion: “We went there with Patrick Blondeau, Enzo Scifo, Franck Dumas and Laurent Viaud in particular. We were a whole band to eat regularly with the family together. This was not the case for four years, but there was really a good time. And besides I leave from the principle that to win titles, it starts from the atmosphere that there is in the team. Even if you don't always get along with everyone. I remember that we were also drinking coffee at the Turbie before going to training. It was like that at the time. »»
His end of career was happy and sunny on the French Riviera despite a serious knee injury after Euro 96. From the stands, he saw his teammates climb to the semi-finals of the 1998 Champions League for elimination against Juventus of his former captain Didier Deschamps and Zinédine Zidane (6-4 in the cumulative).
