DESAILLY`S BLUES BOMBSHELL
In a major interview with L`Equipe, the classy stopper has spoken candidly about his time in England, and his great affection for football in Italy. Indeed, it is clear that he still covets a return to Milan.
"I haven`t got an English football culture," admitted the 31-year-old. "The Cup Finals, I don`t watch them. I don`t know why, but I never fancy it.
"It is perhaps the special atmosphere of Chelsea. Between us, we only talk about the Italian Championship. The first newspaper I read here is `La Gazzetta dello Sport.`"
The revelations will come as a major shock to the Stamford Bridge supporters, and the club, in the build-up to the Champions League clash with Marseille in midweek.
"When I went back to Milan with Chelsea, during last October, I was waiting for a calm welcome," he added. "And then, when I came onto the pitch, I saw streamers everywhere and 80,000 people applauded me and sang my name.
"I felt I was in a suit and tie, and came to receive an Oscar for my career. Honestly, it was the greatest moment in my career, greater than the emotion I felt during the World Cup Final. Milan is still in my heart forever. In England it is different, everything is diluted."
Furthermore, Desailly has admitted that it is only the prospect of continuing to represent his country that spurs him on. "It is only in France that people think that thirty-year-olds are less good. For me to stop in the French team, it will be synonymous with the end of my career. I am 31 and, frankly, I can`t see me stopping in six months.
"So Marcel Desailly is still here. Les Bleus, they are what keep me alert, what gives me more desire, pleasure and morale, during the days I don`t want to go training."
The Frenchman has also dismissed Chelsea`s prospects of winning the title this season. "Second or third, is feasible," he said. "But, frankly, we can`t hope for more. Manchester United have a consistency we don`t have. But the minimum, we can hope is a new qualification to the Champions League.
"Our game is less good than last year. I add that the defence didn`t always play its part. Moreover, in every match that followed a Champions League encounter, we had a brutal fall of tension and an abrupt loss of concentration.
"Everyone knows that Chelsea is team with qualities and it has a European tactical culture, almost Italian. But, the important thing is to be in the first three in the Premiership."
As well as still being in love with Milan, Desailly is also glowing in his praise of Marseille, whom he faces on Wednesday. "I am in love with l`OM and I always have that idea in me - why not, one day, to be back in Marseille?
"When I was there, it was the French club. It was a kind of consecration. I felt well, but it only lasted 16 months. So I have a feeling of incompleteness."
Finally, the defender also spoke about the English game, in general. "The English Championship has a very good level, but only in a certain way, and for me, the reference is still Italy. The stadiums are not the ones I knew in Italy, and the atmosphere is not the same.
"I have to put more aggression into my game. But, above all, it is psychologically that my approach has most changed. Everywhere else, we ask the forwards to play, to try to dribble past their defender.
"Here, a lot of teams continue to fling long balls and the job of the forwards is to deflect them. And, as 80 percent of the men are taller than 1m 90 and constantly elbow you out of the way, it is a strange feeling."
Patrick Haond
