Africa Day and a 27-year retro delight for Olympique de Marseille

It has been a double delight for Olympique de Marseille (OM or Marseille to fans) this week, with celebrations of both Africa Day on May 25th and of the 27th anniversary of one of the Club’s greatest achievements.

Club lore at Marseille is steeped in a long romance with the African continent thanks to a legion of African legends – etched forever into the club’s history 27 years when a goal “made in Africa” by Abedi Pele and scored by Basile Boli earned the team its greatest night in football, together with the UEFA Champions League Trophy.

It was also the first and only time a French team has won the European Cup, when on that memorable night at the Olympiastadion in Munich, Marseille sweeper Basile Boli scored with five minutes remaining in the first half, after he had come close to leaving the pitch with an injury – even going over to the touchline at one point and pleading with coach Raymond Goethals to take him off. His header, from an Abedi Pele cross, would prove the winning goal.

AC Milan had been Champions in 1989 and 1990 under legendary coach Arrigo and The Rossoneri, now coached by Fabio Capello featured a star-studded ensemble led by captain Franco Baresi as well as Frank Rijkaard, Marco van Basten and Paolo Maldini, with Jean-Pierre Papin on the bench.

They were a handful for the Marseille team who owed their triumph to the defensive unit marshaled by Boli, central defensive partner Marcel Dessaily, fullbacks Jocelyn Angloma and Eric Di Meco. Despite the creative genius of Abedi Pelé and the twin attacking threat of big Croatian star striker Alen Boksic and German superstar, Rudi Völler, the French team was unable to put another past the Italians.

Boli, born in the Ivory Coast and Marcel Dessaily who was born in Ghana were both French internationals – but equally represented Africa on that night, alongside Ghana captain, Abedi Pele in a triumph which was celebrated across the African continent as Marseille’s victory won over even more African fans.

Marseille were thus the underdogs in Munich, unlike two years earlier when in the 1991 season they had arrived in Bari, Italy as favourites, complete with Chris Waddle and Jean-Pierre Papin but lost on penalties to underdogs Crvena Zvezda, better known as Red Star Belgrade.

Olympique Marseille this week tweeted moments from the triumphant day in 1993.

The team was captained by Didier Deschamps who would go on to make more history as World Cup winning Captain of France as they hosted and won the 1998 Fifa World Cup.

Deschamps would later coach France to the finals of the European championships, Euro 2016 when they hosted and lost to Portugal and would redeem himself as World Cup-winning coach when France won the World Cup in Russia, in 2018.

The Line-Up:

O. Marseille: Fabian Barthez, Jocelyn Angloma(Jean-Philipe Durand), Eric Di Meco, Basili Boli, Frank Sauzee, Marcel Desailly, Jean Jacques Eyddie,Alen Boksic, Rudi Voller(Jean-Christophe Thomas), Abedi Pele, Didier Deschamps(Captain).

Manager:Raymond Goethals

There were also some memorable and commemorative tweets from Africa and elsewhere around the world, beginning with one from Marseille Legend, Dimitri Payet – and several from Abedi Pele’s Ghana.