Name

Marcel Desailly

Date of Birth

07.09.1968 (Accra, Ghana)

Height

1.83m

Position

Defender

Nationality

French

1 x French League : 1992-1993
2 x Italian League : 1993-1994, 1995-1996
1 x FA Cup : 1999-2000
2 x European Cup : 1992-1993, 1993-19942
2 x European Super Cup : 1994, 1998
1 x European Championship : 2000
1 x World Cup : 1998
 

Season

Team

Games

Goals

Assists

Position

1986-1987

Nantes

13

0

-

12th

1987-1988

Nantes

11

-

-

10th

1988-1989

Nantes

36

-

-

7th

1989-1990

Nantes

36

-

-

7th

1990-1991

Nantes

34

-

-

15th

1991-1992

Nantes

32

-

-

9th

1992-1993

Marseille

31

1

-

1st

1993-1994

Marseille

16

-

-

-

 

Milan

21

1

-

1st

1994-1995

Milan

22

1

-

4th

1995-1996

Milan

32

2

-

1st

1996-1997

Milan

29

1

-

11th

1997-1998

Milan

33

-

-

10th

1998-1999

Chelsea

30

-

1

3rd

1999-2000

Chelsea

22

1

-

5th

2000-2001

Chelsea

34

2

-

6th

2001-2002

Chelsea

24

1

-

6th

2002-2003

Chelsea

31

2

-

4th

2003-2004

Chelsea

15

-

1

2nd

2004-2005

Al Gharafa

27

6

-

6th

 

Nantes

162

5

-

-

 

Marseille

47

1

-

-

 

Milan

137

5

-

-

 

Chelsea

156

6

-

-

 

Al Gharafa

27

6

-

-

 

France

116

3

-

-

 

Career

529

23

-

-

 

Desailly's performance for Marseille in their European Cup final victory over Milan
earned him a contract with the Italian giants. Many thought Silvio Berlusconi signed
Desailly as a favour to disgraced Marseille President Bernard Tapie. He faced an
un-enviable task, Frank Rijkaard had left for Ajax and Desailly was expected to fill
the role vacated by the legendary Dutch midfielder. Desailly quickly established
himself in the first team and his crowning moment came in Milan's incredible 4-0
European Cup final victory over Barcelona. He single handily destroyed one of the
most potent midfields in European football with a chilling display of power and
aggressive tacking. He capped off a marvellous performance by scoring Milan's
fourth goal, running through a traumatised Barcelona defence before expertly
curling the ball past Zubizaretta. Dubbed 'The Rock' by the media soon after.

One more league championship would follow but his performances became
increasingly poor and it was no surprise when Milan offloaded him to Chelsea in the
summer of 1998. Many thought Chelsea had signed another player past his sell by
date but he answered his critics during the 1998 World Cup. Desailly, playing in his
usual role for France in central defence (at Milan he was employed as a defensive
midfielder), was outstanding. He was equally impressive two years later as France
won the European Championship but the tournament proved to be a watershed in
his career as age finally caught up with him and after two poor seasons he was
released on a free transfer.

Key Attributes : Tackling, power