Marseille Coach Rudi Garcia would “never” take the Lazio job, and says “it’s only right” that fans will whistle him for his Roma past.
The Biancocelesti welcome the French side to the Stadio Olimpico in the Europa League next week, and the man on the bench is sure to get a hostile reception.
“It’s only right,” Garcia insisted, speaking to Corriere dello Sport.
Marseille Coach Rudi Garcia would “never” take the Lazio job, and says “it’s only right” that fans will whistle him for his Roma past.
The Biancocelesti welcome the French side to the Stadio Olimpico in the Europa League next week, and the man on the bench is sure to get a hostile reception.
“It’s only right,” Garcia insisted, speaking to Corriere dello Sport.
“I am and always will be a Romanista. As long as everything remains within the realm of fair play and the spectacle of the game: you’re enemies on the pitch, not off it. It’s not a war.
“Would I coach Lazio? No, never. In Rome there’s only one club for me, even if Lazio deserve the same respect their fans have always shown me. But I took another path and I can’t ignore that.”
Despite those words, it appears Garcia retains some bitterness for the way his time in Rome ended.
It was put to him that Francesco Totti’s angry reaction to being substituted spelled the beginning of the end, but the Frenchman doesn’t see it that way.
“I don’t want to be vulgar but I don’t know a better word: that’s bull. We all know when my problems started at Roma.
“At the end of the season season, after the derby which confirmed we’d finish second, I said what I thought about the gap to Juventus and the impossibility of winning the Scudetto.
“At that point it was over, my card was marked. Francesco said the same thing two weeks ago, in France we have a proverb which states that it’s not good to be right too early…
“I don’t know who decided my fate and I don’t care. I only know that contacts with my successor [Luciano Spalletti] had been ongoing for some time, there wasn’t much respect…
“I was a dead man walking from the start of the season, and I got things wrong too.
“I let them take away the fitness coach, Paolo Rongoni, who I also took here to Marseille. I accepted two professionals chosen by the club who didn't come from the world of football and that was a mistake.
“There were too many injuries, and they gave me explanations. But I note – and I say this with genuine displeasure – that the problem has remained at Trigoria.”
Another former Roma man, Kevin Strootman, joined his former Coach at Marseille this summer.
“When I heard Roma were going to sign [Steven] Nzonzi I called my sporting director and asked him to make enquiries, but I didn’t think he’d come to Marseille, since he’d just become a father.
“But right then he didn’t feel the faith of the club, so we took advantage of that opportunity.”