Legendary centre-back Marcel Desailly captained France to a World Cup
but he made his name at Marseille on the way to the first Champions
League title
At, 6ft 1in (1.86m) and 12.5 stone (80kg), Marcel ‘The Rock’ Desailly
is more of a mighty oak or a towering redwood. But his strength,
toughness and unyielding nature at the heart of some of Europe’s finest
defences led to his rather stonier nickname.
“’The Rock’ was amazing,” said former teammate, Gustavo Poyet. “He was a winner, which we appreciated at Chelsea.”
“He was a beast to play against,” said ex-Liverpool and England
striker Michael Owen. “As quick as anyone, as strong as anyone,
virtually impossible to play against.”
The man who played behind him at Marseille and for the World
Cup-winning France team agreed: “Marcel was less of a leader and more of
a warrior,” said goalkeeper Fabien Barthez. “Desailly was a rock.”
Born in Accra, the capital of Ghana, as Odenke Abbey, he took the
name Desailly when his mother married a French diplomat and relocated to
France in 1972, when he was four.
His father hoped he’d go into academia, but the youngster fell in
love with football at school and followed his half-brother Seth Adonkor
to Nantes’ renowned youth team. There he slotted into central defence
alongside a young Didier Deschamps. He broke into the Nantes reserves at
17 and made his professional debut at 18.