“In 1987, I was expected dazzled by Yousouf Fofana”
They make you experience the matches as if you were there. During the end of the year celebrations, asmonaco.com offers you a series of interviews with the great witnesses of the media, who have vivid memories with the Red and White. Today, meeting with Stéphane Guy.
His fiery tirades have made you vibrate more than once in front of your small screen. From “the infernal Wayne Rooney” to “French genius”, including the mythical “it’s not Gijón, it’s not Valladolid”, Stephane Guy has marked the French football landscape with its expressions that have become classics.
Today on RMC Sport after many years spent at Canal +, the 51-year-old journalist continues to follow AS Monaco matches with assiduity. A Club that does not leave indifferent and for which he has a real affection, as he confided in this interview. Let’s go for a few more minutes of happiness!
There had been Glenn Hoddle in the team, but I was extraordinarily dazzled by Youssouf Fofana, who had made an extraordinary match. He had so flown over the match that the PSG defender who was on his mark, Pierre Bianconi, was sent off because he was completely overwhelmed.
Journalist at RMC Sport
Stéphane, do you remember your first match at Louis-II?
Honestly not at all, but on the other hand I remember perfectly the first AS Monaco game that I saw. I was not yet a journalist, I was a student and I came to Paris in the summer to work, so it was a PSG-Monaco at the Parc des Princes. It was Arsène Wenger’s first year, that of the French champion title, in 1987-1988, and the Monegasques won 1-0, with a goal from Mark Hateley. There had been Glenn Hoddle in the team, but I was extraordinarily dazzled by Youssouf Fofana, who had made an extraordinary match. He had so flown over the match that the PSG defender who was on his mark, Pierre Bianconi, was sent off because he was completely overwhelmed.
Which match at the Stade Louis-II impressed you the most?
As a commentator, I really enjoyed the 8e Champions League final return against Manchester City (3-1), in 2017, with this liberating goal from Tiémoué Bakayoko. This Monaco team was exceptional and the stakes were very high. Leaving Manchester City that way is not trivial.
That day, the atmosphere was extraordinary, as is often the case during major matches on the Rock …
Of course. It was a real European Cup match, with the emotion associated with these two-way matches. The atmosphere was exceptional, with a team playing such quality football. Everything was bluffing.
I loved Glenn Hoddle, at a blessed time when great English football stars played in France. Then there was Enzo Scifo, but I particularly liked Gérald Passi, a player with a high gaze and sure technique.
Journalist at RMC Sport
Is there a routine when you have just covered a match in Monaco?
What’s quite funny is that since the hotel is right next to the Stadium, you can walk there. And then coming to Monaco is almost the assurance of having the sun, at any time of the year when you come to comment. The atmosphere around the Stade Louis-II is nice, you don’t feel the negative pressure that there can be elsewhere. And then this Stadium by the sea is still a very special place, which has an incredible history. You feel this story there, and I really like the Wall of Legends, with the photos of all the old ones. I love when a club showcases its history, and Monaco was one of the first in France to do so. The downside is the athletics track, even if I understand very well that Monaco has an omnisports stadium, and I have also commented on the Herculis meeting. But Louis-II, it is really not a place like the others.
Who is the AS Monaco player who impressed you?
There are a lot of them, there are so many amazing players in Monaco! I loved Glenn Hoddle, at a blessed time when great English football stars played in France. Then there was Enzo Scifo, but I particularly liked Gérald Passi, a player with a high gaze and sure technique. But even stronger than that, there are the players trained at the Club, like Thierry Henry and Kylian Mbappé. I consider myself privileged to have been able to witness the emergence of Mbappé, to have seen his first steps in the Monegasque jersey. This is where we discovered the phenomenon and since then nothing surprises me concerning it, because it marked my mind immediately, in the same way that Thierry Henry had done it, even if I did not comment yet.
When I think of Monaco, I think of Eric Huet. I have never seen a man whose everyday life and mood depend so much on the performance of his favorite team. He’s a “serious drip” him (laughs)!
Journalist at RMC Sport
Do you have a particular anecdote related to the Club?
I obviously have a very special bond with AS Monaco since my daughter’s godfather, my best friend, is Gilles Grimandi. I knew him when he was finishing his career at Arsenal and we became very good friends. With him, we obviously talk a lot about AS Monaco both because it is a club that has deeply marked him. But above all, when I think of Monaco, I think of Eric Huet. I have never seen a man whose everyday life and mood depend so much on the performance of his favorite team. He’s a “serious drip” him (laughs)!
You also followed the Club in its epic in the Champions League in 2004, on imagine that it must be a superb memory…
Yes, I had followed this behind the scenes thanks to the documentary “The Red Journey”, which Antoine Le Roy had produced. But above all, the following season I had the chance to comment on the Champions League match between Olympiakos and Monaco, won by the Greeks (1-0). The day before the match, I was able to talk to Didier Deschamps to prepare for the match, and during this interview he told me about the upcoming match perfectly. The way he, as a coach, had anticipated and approached it was perfect. When I saw this match the next day, I felt like I was seeing exactly the one he told me. It really marked me professionally. That day, I said to myself: “Him, he’s really not a trainer like the others. “
You now work at RMC Sport with several Monegasque legends, Emmanuel Petit, Eric Di Meco and Jérôme Rothen. Do they speak to you of their passage on the Rock?
Eric, even if he is more identified with Marseille, and Manu, who is Normand like me, have Monaco in their hearts. It’s the same for Jérôme, even if I meet him less because he is on the radio and I on TV. I see all three rather in the contexts of English matches or the Champions League, so Monaco is not the first topic that comes on the table, but they are really branded. It’s the same for Arsène Wenger, whom I frequented a lot during his period at Arsenal, who often told me memories of his time at AS Monaco.