Stade Rennais – Monaco: when Rennes took 7-0 in the Principality, the story of Namakoro Diallo
A few weeks ago in an Instagram post, Namakoro Diallo, who passed through Stade Rennes, returned to a sad episode in his career.
Rennes meets Monaco on Saturday (9:00 p.m.) at Roazhon Park and the meeting will be scrutinized at a time when the SRFC is slipping at the start of the season, and when the ASM is well underway. In a position of strength, Monaco was also one day in December 2016, when Christian Gourcuff chose to send a very young team to the Rock to compete in a round of 16 of the Coupe de la Ligue.
Among the players lined up, Namakoro Diallo recounted this episode, putting his personal situation at the time into perspective. “I remember this exceptional season where I led the Stade Rennes reserve team as captain,” begins the player who evokes the desire of Nîmes to bring him on loan to Ligue 2. “The Stade Rennes coach at the time, however, refused this proposal, saying that he intended to start me in the coming season. Naively, I believed in it.”
The 28-year-old today continues. “The pre-season preparation went well, but to my great disappointment, I wasn’t even called up for the friendly matches. Returning to the reserve team, a prospect I had hoped to leave behind forever. Frustration and incomprehension grew within me. Despite my efforts, performance and dedication, it seemed the doors to the first team remained stubbornly closed. It was Julien Stéphan, my reserve team coach, who tried as best he could to cheer me up. But I was too affected, the psychological wound too deep. My first real confrontation with the harsh reality of professional football had just happened.”
Then comes the meeting on December 14, 2016. “Although ill that week, I was summoned to his office (the head coach, editor’s note) the day before leaving for Monaco. “Are you ready to play?” » he asked me. It was an unexpected chance that I couldn’t refuse, despite my weakened physical state. I answered in the affirmative, driven by the hope of finally proving my worth.”
« Humiliation »
Diallo then recounts learning at the chat about his tenure, for his first professional match… and his only one with Rennes. “The coach said that the reason we were playing that day was because several players were complaining about the lack of playing time. “If you fail, no one can complain anymore,” he said. A poisoned gift…”
“Humiliation”, “bitterness” et “devastating ordeal” then summarize the feeling of the player having suffered a 7-0 defeat against Monaco by Mbappé, Moutinho, Glik and Subasic. “My first professional frustrations revealed the hidden vices of this world: ruthless workforce management, broken promises, and the crushing pressure of having to succeed not only for oneself, but for an entire family. »
Having left Stade Rennais in 2021, Namakoro Diallo then played at Romorantin, US Boulogne then Nîmes Olympique, which he has just left to join Quevilly-Rouen Métropole, a club which welcomed former Rennais Yanis Dede Lhomme this summer, and last season a certain… Denis-Will Poha, also starting with Rennes against Monaco on December 14, 2016.
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