golden ball prince

Chapter 38 French National Derby

If you want to talk about the popularity of the game, then the derby must be one of the best ways to measure it. As long as there are professional leagues, there will definitely be no shortage of derbies, and the most important in a league is naturally the national derby.

In France, Paris and Marseille are the two largest cities in the country. In the Ligue [-], the two teams are also the most influential teams in France. Although Lyon once ruled the Ligue [-] as the strongest club in France, people are still accustomed to the match between Paris Saint-Germain and Marseille as the French national derby.

The French national derby between Paris Saint-Germain and Marseille does not actually have much history to speak of. The reason is that Paris Saint-Germain was established in 1970, while Marseille, another protagonist of the national derby, was established as early as 1899.Due to team building time and other factors, in French football, the national derby between Paris Saint-Germain and Olympia Marseille was not really formed until the late 80s. It has only been less than 30 years until now. In terms of history, the Spanish national derby, which has been over a hundred years old, is the real foundation.

Before the formation of the national derby, Marseille, who has been the overlord of the Ligue 1986 for many years, was really interested in the competition with Saint-Etienne and Bordeaux. Paris Saint-Germain, as the capital team at the beginning of its establishment, was insignificant in the next few years.It was not until [-] that Paris Saint-Germain won the first league championship trophy in team history under the leadership of head coach Gerard Houllier that people began to notice the rise of this capital team. At this time, Marseille also realized the pressure from Paris. In this way, the prelude to the French national derby war was slowly opened.

Paris Saint-Germain is far inferior to Nantes, Saint-Etienne, Monaco, Lyon and other teams in terms of background alone, but in the eyes of Marseilles, if you want to talk about the national derby, it can only be a contest between Marseille and Paris Saint-Germain.Because in France, everything seems to have to revolve around the capital. This situation is more serious than any other country. As the second largest city in France, Marseille has not received enough attention for a long time, which has caused extreme dissatisfaction among the citizens of Marseille.

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Paris Saint-Germain had the last laugh in the first national derby of the Ligue 2 this season. Paris Saint-Germain, which was ranked seventh in the league at the time, beat Marseille, who was third in the league at the time, with a score of 1:9 at its home stadium Parc des Princes. Another victory, No.10 minutes, Luis Gonzalez scored the last goal of the game to bring back a point for Marseille.

Just a few months later, the two teams met again in the league. Paris Saint-Germain will go to Marseille and go away to Marseille's home stadium Velodrome to start another national derby battle between the two sides. Only this time, Paris Saint-Germain came to second place in the league standings, while Marseille, which is one point behind Paris, is still third in the league.

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The Velodrome Stadium is the business card of Marseille's football culture in the whole city. Every weekend, tens of thousands of Marseille fans flock to the stadium, creating a fanatical home atmosphere. As one of the most fanatical and popular home stadiums in the world, the Velodrome Stadium is even more popular today. The stadium that can accommodate nearly [-] fans is already full. Whether it is the Marseille fans of the home team, the Paris Saint-Germain fans of the visiting team, or the neutral fans who came to see the excitement today, everyone is already there Waiting for this game that attracted the attention of the entire French football world.

Because it is Marseille's home stadium, even though the Paris Saint-Germain fans have exhausted their greatest efforts, they are still overwhelmed by the Marseille fans. In the largest port city in the Mediterranean, wearing the Marseille home jerseys that are symbolized by the Mediterranean Sea with white and sky blue as the base, the home team fans followed the stadium announcer and shouted the names of every player in the team and gave them the warmest applause.

In the shouts resounding throughout the stadium, the game is about to start.

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In the stadium channel, the starting players of both sides are making final preparations before going on the field.

Makelele gave high-fives to each teammate one by one and then returned to the queue, standing at the front of the team as the captain.

"Wang, is this your first time participating in a Derby?" Nene turned to ask Wang Zi who was behind him.

Wang Zi, who stood at the back of the line, smiled back and said, "Yes."

"Are you nervous?" Nene looked curious.

"I said it's okay, Louis, would you believe me?" Wang Zi shrugged.

In fact, it would be a lie to say that he was not nervous. Before his rebirth, Wang Zi had played in the Italian national derby for the youth team in the Juventus echelon, but this is completely incomparable with the current real French national team derby.

Nene shook his head and said with a smile, "Haha, of course I don't believe it, this is the National Derby."

"Okay, just a little bit." Wang Zi expressed his mood at this time.

"Just a little?" Nene still didn't believe it.

Instead of answering directly, Wang Zi asked instead: "Brother Louis, so what do you want to say?"

"It makes you less nervous." Nene said it as it should be.

Wang Zi shrugged again: "I'm not too nervous."

"Then why are you talking so much today? This is not like you."

"Uh……."

Now that Wang Zi was exposed, Nene stopped hiding what he wanted to say, and suggested to Wang Zi with a smile: "Next time, if you are still nervous, go to Claude. He will give you good advice. After all, our captain has stayed in Real Madrid, and the Spanish national team has experienced many derbies. He knows how to overcome these."

"Hmm... okay." Wang Zi scratched his head.

After the two finished their conversation, another 2 minutes later, under the reminder of the game officials, led by the referee, the referee group behind them walked out of the player channel together with the starting players of the two teams standing in line.

With the appearance of the players, the Velodrome Stadium once again sounded warm applause and shouts from the fans.

Under the deafening sound, Wang Zi, who was walking at the end of the team, touched the turf at the boundary of the court with his right hand before entering the court, and then walked into the court with his head held high.

After actually stepping into the stadium and listening to the noise around him, Wang Zi was much calmer than before he played. The tension was replaced by a kind of excitement from the bottom of his heart. It seemed that he wanted to break through Wang Zi's body, and Wang Zi couldn't wait to start the game quickly.

(End of this chapter)