This Tuesday evening, Olympique de Marseille finds the Champions League by facing Real Madrid on the lawn of the Santiago-Bernabéu stadium. This is not the first time that the two teams have faced each other. 16 years ago, on September 30, 2009, Marseillais and Madrid were already opposed in C1 in the Madrid lair.
In an interview with The teamSouleymane Diawara, former defender of the Marseille club, returned to the episode of his muscular tackle on Cristiano Ronaldo, who caused two months of absence to the Portuguese star.
“It was my game, aggressive, toned. I never made an intervention to hurt someone, we remain the actors of a sport, I was disgusted to have removed one from the field for two months, the spectators pay to see players like Cristiano. At the time, we had sent an email, with OM, to apologize ”, he confides.
Cristiano Ronaldo made Souleymane Diawara suffer
During the interview, Souleymane Diawara tells the story of a complicated meeting for his own: ” The truth is that Cristiano put me on misery. A monster. I played barely more than a period, and I came out wrugled. This real… Kaka, Cristiano, Lassana Diarra, Pepe, Sergio Ramos, Benzema, etc., for me, it's stronger than the current team. I was surprised by the atmosphere of the Bernabeu, I expected to live hell, in fact, we mainly heard the Marseille supporters. But hell, we experienced it on the ground. »»
The player also remembers an electric exchange with the Portuguese. “I said to him:” I'm not your son, you don't play with me “. He had a sly smile. So, ok, no problem ”, he says.
Sixteen years after this anecdote, Souleymane Diawara still laughs: “You know, I still had it this summer, via Sadio Mané (CR7 teammate in Al-Nassr), we joked, like veterans remembering an intense past. ”
