Messi, Ronaldo and Pogba: World Cup-winner Marcel Desailly talks Champions League ahead of Hong Kong Soccer Sevens

Marcel Desailly is one of only four players to have won the Uefa Champions League back-to-back with different clubs and he is the only one to come within minutes of retaining the trophy for a third time. That dream was undone by a teenager in an Ajax shirt and he would not mind seeing something similar happen again this season. “It would be funny to see Ajax winning the Champions League,” he says of the similarities between today and his experience in 1995 with AC Milan. “We had just won the Champions League against Barcelona 4-0 and the year after we had to play against this young team Ajax in the final of Champions League in Vienna. And they beat us. “They beat us 1-0. The big AC Milan has been beaten by Edgar Davids, 19 years old, Clarence Seedorf, 19 years old, Kluivert, 18 years old. “I want something similar. Why? Because the passing, the type of play that this team has, it’s the modern football. It’s offensive all the time, getting the ball to go forward. It’s something very special.” The man they called “The Rock” has some concrete opinions on the game he has made his life’s work. Desailly singled out Liverpool for the way they “dominated the best team in the world today” despite losing 3-0 away to a Lionel Messi-inspired Barcelona. Which raises the question: who was the best player he played against? “Ronaldo, the Brazilian ... The speed, the touch, he was just amazing. Incredible. “Maldini, every time we were playing against Inter Milan, Ronaldo was the only player where Maldini was telling me ‘Marcel, stay around me. He’s too fast. I cannot handle it by myself.’ Only one player: Ronaldo the Brazilian.” There is a video of the France team wondering how to stop Ronaldo ahead of the 1998 World Cup. How would they have coped with Messi? “I don’t know, I don’t know,” he said. “Messi and [Cristiano] Ronaldo are also very special, eh? When you look at the statistics, It’s just amazing. “The two of them are probably the best players in the history of football because they have stayed 10 years at the highest level. Amazing.” Is that something his World Cup-winning countryman Kylian Mbappe can replicate? “Even if he manages to do half of what the other two have done is something very special.” Manchester United’s Paul Pogba was the star of the France team before Mbappe came along, but it is safe to say that he has not hit the heights his talent suggest he should. “He is an extraordinary soccer player. I have been talking with [France coach and former teammate] Didier Deschamps and before Mbappe arrived in the system, he told me over all the players that he had in the team before Mbappe come in, Pogba looked the player who had the big potential. “But he had to adapt the system to him. France was playing a 4-3-3 or 4-4-2 and because of Pogba he adapted the system to a 4-2-3-1. “He’s not an easy player to manage and to fit into your system. But he is excellent, he is more than excellent. He can change the game, if he is willing and he is confident he can be your key player throughout the season.” There are rumours that Pogba will join up with another of Desailly’s former teammates turned managers this summer: Zinedine Zidane at Real Madrid. Zidane was the star of the France team when they won the World Cup in 1998, but was that side better than the current world champions? “Probably the new team. Even if we were having Zidane, probably the new players – if you take each of them individually – are probably better than us technically. But at the level of experience and winning mentality, we were better. We were much better. But technically, the touch, the talent. When you talk about talent, if you remove Zidane from our team, they are better, much better.” Both World Cup-winning teams were united by their backgrounds and, sadly, some of the racist responses to such ethnically diverse teams. What does he make of the recent spotlight thrown on racism in the game? He praises Raheem Sterling but thinks he needs support from the authorities such as Fifa, the federations and clubs themselves. “Clubs should not fear to kill the moment. Stop the match, go and get the people in the stands, do announcements, ban people. It’s not enough yet from the institutions. Yes, they put some flags ‘No to racism’. No, we want clear sanctions.” Desailly is doing his own bit to support the players. As well as supporting the Hong Kong Soccer Sevens this month, Desailly is an ambassador for the Fifa Women’s World Cup being held in France later this summer, while still doing TV and charity work, and running his own academy in Ghana where he coaches the under-17s. WATCH @FIFAWorldCup winner and former @ChelseaFC and @equipedefrance @FrenchTeam @marceldesailly has a message in French ahead of his special guest appearance at the 2019 @hksoccer7s pic.twitter.com/nOmwWoj28e — HK Soccer Sevens (@hksoccer7s) 23 April 2019 He’s clearly keeping busy but still won’t rule out coaching at the top level. “I still I think I have a potential for coaching. I know I am old, I am a 50-year-old man, my time will come, maybe one day. They should not give up on me. “China? I’m ready for it. I’ve been most of the time a captain of my team so I am somebody stable who knows how to manage ego so I don’t know, waiting for proposal.” Marcel Desailly will be at the Hong Kong Soccer Sevens at Sports Road from May 17-19 and at the Sportsman’s Dinner on May 16.