om | PSG-OM video: « We wouldn’t finish the match », the Clasicos of Jocelyn Angloma and Peter Luccin

Jocelyn Angloma and Peter Luccin will live this Clasico from the other side of the Atlantic. The first from Guadeloupe, where he has been coaching the local team since 2017. The second from Dallas, where he has been reciting his ranges since 2019 as assistant coach of the local MLS club. At a different time, they each knew OM and PSG and keep a close eye on this historic rivalry. Cross interview.

You both have a different path between the two clubs.
Jocelyn Angloma: I started with PSG in 1990, I came from Lille. It was not yet the competitor of OM but it was a club which allowed me to show myself and to go to the France team.
Peter Luccin: I had been trained at Les Caillols, then Cannes came to recruit me. And after two seasons in Bordeaux, Roland Courbis brought me to OM in 1998. It was a dream, I grew up there, all my friends were there, I couldn’t refuse

How was the transfer to the rival made?
JA: I arrived in Marseille in 1991 in exchange for Laurent Fournier, Bruno Germain and Bernard Pardo. Bernard Tapie wanted me at all costs and that didn’t bother me at all! Anyway in Paris they made me understand that I had to go to OM. Today with everything I’ve experienced there, I feel more Marseille than Paris.
PL: Same thing, we were coming out of a very complicated 1999-2000 season where we had played the maintenance. Marseille needed money and we were made to understand with Stéphane Dalmat that we had to leave. I didn’t feel ready to go abroad yet, Paris was playing the C1 and it was a springboard.

How did the supporters experience your respective departures?
PL: Everyone felt a kind of betrayal, I understand that but what I wanted was to play at the highest level. And then my mother and my two older brothers are from Paris, my father is from Martinique, in my family we were almost multicultural.
JA: There was not yet this rivalry when I arrived in Marseille. Besides, I was very happy to see the Park again on my return.

« Everyone felt betrayed when I left OM for Paris. But I wanted to play at a high level »

It is precisely around the year 1992 and the match at the Parc des Princes that it begins?
JA: It was the leaders who wanted to stir up the sauce. But for this match, Tapie didn’t even need to speak, he just posted the interview with Arthur Jorge who said he was going to step on us. Without talking to each other, we understood each other and we knew what we would have to do.

And it was a butcher’s shop…
JA: Yes you can call it that. There were gross or even malicious faults on both sides, we are not going to hide it. You had to be men. With Éric Di Meco we put some and there were fights. It had heated on the goalkeeper and we had responded violently.
PL: At that time, the referee let play. In my time he already whistled more, and today with the VAR…
JA: Today we do not finish the game.

You miss the return match party because you were injured in Munich…
JA: I had a broken leg watching the game at home. We had partied for three days but afterwards in the euphoria the level had risen. There had been incredible actions…

Peter, six years later, you lost a decisive match two days before the end of the championship.
PL: It was my first Clasico. We had a superb 1998-1999 season. We were leading, had dominated the whole match without any problem but we conceded two goals at the end. Then we lose the title on the last day. We had more or less been robbed of the championship (Paris will lose a controversial match against Bordeaux editor’s note.) but we should have finished it before.

In what state of mind did you approach these matches?
PL: With the intention of being aggressive. You have to know that this match is different, manage our emotions a little. But we were pushed by the fervor of the fans and we knew that there was only one team of the two who could go out.

Exactly, is it hotter at the Vélodrome or at the Parc?
PL: I always felt the Clasico differently at the Velodrome. Already there were more ultras so it was noisier. With banners everywhere, tifos from the start. In Paris it was the same thing, but just smaller.

« Here in the United States, everyone says that Paris will win. I tell them: ‘Watch out' »

What do the two clubs and this rivalry represent in French football?
JA: She made him grow. Spearheads were needed for French clubs to be competitive at European level.
PL: In the United States where I train, it is the two clubs that are followed. An American channel broadcasts three Ligue 1 matches a week, there is always Paris or OM.

Exactly, how do you feel about tomorrow’s match, can OM do it?
PL: I see them strong and solid. They were more playful last year but now they have a concept that’s stuck.
JA: I really like what Tudor is putting in place with President Longoria, to find this stability. It will be a very tough match. Paris has the individualities but if OM put their game in place, they will have problems.
PL: Here in the United States, everyone says that Paris will win. I answer them:Be careful, Marseille is tough!«