Olympique Lyonnais welcomes St-Etienne this Sunday for the derby (9 p.m.). Questioned by “Le Parisien – Aujourd’hui en France”, Fleury Di Nallo remembers these meetings in front of Stéphane’s neighbor. The former Rhone striker, who scored 15 goals against the Forez team, returned to the eternal rivalry between the two clubs.
Fleury Di Nallo is the top scorer in the history of Olympique Lyonnais with 222 goals against him, including 15 against St-Etienne. This Sunday, ASSE travels to Lyon for the derby (9:00 p.m.). The former striker spoke of the rivalry between the two enemy clubs for “Le Parisien – Aujourd’hui en France”. “This is the game of the year. We defend our city, explains the former player. We were fighting with the Stéphanois, but it was nice. We had tough players, Mihajlovic for example. Domenech, less, he had a reputation above all but he wasn’t that mean. “
He remembers the little pre-match phrases launched between the different protagonists. ” It was especially Roger Rocher (Editor’s note: the emblematic president of ASSE between 1961 and 1982) who lit up. He said: “Sainté, that will always remain the locomotive and Lyon the wagons. “ He regrets that the current president, Jean-Michel Aulas did not arrive at its time. “It is a pity, we, the big boss of OL, we never saw him. Aulas and Rocher at the same time, it would have heated. He would have sent it the way he does today, Rocher would have repacked it. “
“Before, not all good players started from OL”
The former center-forward remembers that he was one day close to joining the Greens. “In 1967, I almost signed there, I went to Roger Rocher, to his house, in the mountains, he told the daily. He said to me, “I’ll take you right away. “He made an offer to OL, with 2 more players, including Jean-Michel Larqué, who was just starting out. OL said no. I had received a threatening letter: “If you go to Saint-Etienne, you have a 3-year-old son, you never know …” But I didn’t want to go there. ” Instead of Bernard Lacombe, who was forced to join the Forez team. “I was OL sports director at the time (in 1978). At OL, I am told: “If he does not leave, we file for bankruptcy. You have to find the words. “He didn’t feel like it, to say the least. “
Today, he still follows the club’s results very closely but still regrets the Olympique Lyonnais of his time. “I am not missing an OL match at the stadium. After, it’s not the same anymore. Before, all good players, they did not start from OL. Today it’s the good guys who leave and the bad guys who stay, he explained. Before, we changed the bad ones. A player like Memphis, he has class, he is above in Lyon, but he has nothing to do with Lyon. I lived 100 m from the stadium. Bernard Lacombe, he came to see me play, he was 10 years old. The supporters always stop me to tell me about the OL of Di nallo–Chiesa–Lacombe. “