Axel Disasi, still standing / C1 / 3rd round / PSV-Monaco / SOFOOT.com
When Axel Disasi arrives at AS Monaco in 2020, it is to insert the rotation. Taking advantage of the injuries and malforms of his competitors, he quickly tasted the starting lineup. Like his career, the former Rémois, who should start again this Tuesday evening against PSV, no longer has anything of a default choice.
May 19, 2021, while AS Monaco’s trophy cabinet has been gathering dust since 2017, the merry band led by Niko Kovač challenges PSG to the final of the Coupe de France. The key is the possibility of applying an impressive second half of the Red and White season. A hope quickly swept away by Axel Disasi who, with a missed control, offers the opener to the Parisians. Completely charred and out of ideas, the Rock players will not return (2-0 defeat). Twelve months later, the dust is still there but the former Rémois has swapped his gravedigger costume for that of Monegasque defense boss. A habit for those who keep climbing the ladder and who will try to go even higher against PSV this Tuesday evening.
“In the space of a year, he went from the U17s to Ligue 2.” Mathieu Lacan
Mature without being of legal age
Scorer in the first leg against the Dutch and author of a performance full of authority on Saturday at La Meinau, Axel Disasi has the wind in its sails. However, everything had not succeeded for the 24-year-old defender. After being refused at the PSG training center, he landed at the PFC academy where Mathieu Lacan, then U19 coach, picked him up very quickly: “We didn’t think from the start that he was a very high-level player like he is today. Quite quickly, he passed the stages, he was upgraded from U17 to U19. The first game he made in U19 Nationals, I felt like he had been playing in U19 for a year or two. And there, it went very quickly, in the space of a year, he went from the U17s to Ligue 2 ” . Twelve months later, here he is breaking down the door of the first. “He was a young player, he looked like he had his head on his shouldersrewinds Hervé Lybohy, his former teammate at the PFC. Besides, sometimes people made fun of him, telling him that he didn’t really look his age, he behaved like an adult, a dad, when he was barely 18 years old. »
Question ground, the young French does not joke when it begins. “It was a Ligue 2 match against Lens (December 11, 2015, editor’s note)We told me : “Supervise the little youngster”, recalls the former player of Amiens. But I didn’t have much to say to him, he had been clean and solid in his duels. » A successful first which does not surprise the one who is today deputy director of the training center for residents of Charléty: “He is a calm defender, who always stays upright and who is not always emotional. He is able to put impact while remaining cold and that makes him more efficient. » And allowed him to move from the role of third wheel of the Monegasque defense coach to pilot. Evidenced by his 45 appearances last season against only 34 and 37 for his two competitors, Benoît Badiashile and Guillermo Maripán, both supplanted by their overpowered colleague.
“He has transformed, he is another player that I see” Herve Lybohy
brave captain
On the other hand, the native of Gonesse surprises with his new leadership. “He was more of a reserved person. You can’t say he was a leader, he wasn’t someone who led others. , abounds Mathieu Lacan. Hervé Lybohy validates: “We couldn’t have guessed it because when he arrived, he was very calm, very nice. Today, he has metamorphosed, he is another player that I see” . However, as soon as he arrived, or almost, Niko Kovac did not hesitate to place him among the vice-captains. A status that he retained with the arrival of Philippe Clément – he also wore the armband against the RCSA in the absence of Wissam Ben Yedder – proof of the confidence granted by his coaches, but also of his ability to federate .
A capacity sublimated by this permanent will to lead by example and never show arms. “We were training, we were opposing and Axel liked to carry the ball in small games. Three players tried to stop him by pulling on his shirt, shorts and bib, but as he was being thrown they were unsuccessful’ , rewinds Thomas Fontaine who played alongside him in Reims, another stage that he brilliantly validated in his career. In addition to training, this rage is perceived quite easily on the ground, like the end of the match against PSV where he allowed himself to snatch to equalize. A communicative determination that could well allow the Monegasques to win the duel that awaits them on the lawn of the Philips Stadion. And whatever the result of this match against PSV, only one certainty: if there are ten seated, the former Rémois will be the only one standing, ready to return to battle.
By Florian Porta
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