For Nice-Matin, Lilian Laslandes recalled his memories with OGC Nice, such as his departure from the Aiglons to return to the Girondins de Bordeaux.
“I did the years I had to do, I had the chance to win titles. It’s my hometown. But I also loved my two visits to Nice (2003-2004 and 2007-2008). I have extraordinary memories of it. The Nice leaders let me go to Bordeaux at a time when they were not obliged to because I had scored 13-14 goals. The president at the time, Maurice Cohen, said to me: “How am I going to explain that I am letting my top scorer go? “. I took care of it. I called the Brigade capos and organized a big aperitif to tell them about my situation. They understood. I always felt indebted and that’s why I came back in 2007”.
As in Bordeaux, he had two appearances in Nice. “In 2003, it was a team that was in full euphoria with coach Gernot Rohr, players like José Cobos. I was more in the team’s age group. There was less pressure, we played with a little more freedom, we perhaps had a little more quality too. The second time, I arrived when we were 18th. It was a challenge and we took it up all together with the public and the players. We had to fight until the end.”
With a nickname, that of “golden helmet”. “It’s because I was in a period where I was bleaching my hair, I don’t know why (laughs). I scored a lot of goals with my head and I also had a role in deflection. With Koné and Ederson as rockets on the wings, my game was highlighted. At the time, we played more with the qualities of each person, everyone was highlighted. We had a lot of fun.”
