HOULLIER HITS BACK AT GINOLA CLAIMS

In Ginolas' new autobiography he hits out at Houllier for comments he made after France lost to Bulgaria in 1993 and failed to qualify for the World Cup in the USA in 1994.The Aston Villa winger accuses the former French coach of making him public enemy number one in France by saying he was "The Murderer of the French team."

The Anfield boss has denied he said this and believes his words have been taken the wrong way: "He has distorted totally what was said and the reasons why it was said," he replied.

"I actually said he committed a crime against the team spirit, but in France the actual word 'crime' simply means a serious mistake. I never used the word 'murder' or 'murderer' or 'assassin' in connection with what happened in a football match."

Houllier also denies that that it was his fault for the defeat and blames a row between Ginola and Eric Cantona, about who should be selected for the game, for the disruption in the camp before the Bulgarian game.

This confrontation is most likely the reason for Houlliers' post match comments rather than the incident at the end of the game. It was Ginola who gave the ball away to enable Emil Kostadinov to score the last minute goal that put France out of the world Cup.