On March 10, 2021, French football met a rare character in Ligue 1, but whose personality seemed to fit perfectly with Olympique de Marseille (OM). After a week in isolation – a pandemic linked to Covid-19 obliges – spent like a lion in a cage, Jorge Sampaoli played his first championship match at the head of OM, at the Stade-Vélodrome. In his technical zone, the Argentinian paced back and forth, unable to hold still, before ultimately obtaining a victory against Stade Rennes (1-0).
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Three and a half years later, the Breton club will discover the 64-year-old technician up close, whose eruptive character appears at odds with an institution as wise as an image, accustomed to remaining in line, sometimes too much. Jorge Sampaoli, who will be presented at a press conference on Tuesday November 12 at 1 p.m., has signed a contract with Stade Rennais until 2026. Arnaud Pouille, executive president of the club for a month, and Frédéric Massara, his sports director, are at the origin of this choice, surprising to say the least, in order to replace Julien Stéphan.
“We need his mobilizing energy so that the club can move forward and face the competition with determination”explained Arnaud Pouille in a press release published by Rennes on Monday. The Argentinian's grain of madness will have to take effect to shake up a squad that has been in distress for several weeks: the red and black have won only one of their last six matches and occupy 13th place in the Ligue 1 standings, far from their European ambitions.
While attending the defeat of his new squad against Toulouse (0-2), in the stands of Roazhon Park on Sunday, Jorge Sampaoli noted the scale of the work that awaits him. His challenge will be to manage to transpose his very particular method into a club which does not generally go beyond the framework, and which welcomes a foreign coach for the first time since the Romanian Laszlo Bölöni (2003-2006).
Often short experiences
In the past, “El Pelado” (“the bald one”) has often transported his visceral attachment to football into environments conducive to the unleashing of passions. At the head of the Chilean selection, he won the Copa América in 2015 – his last trophy – before taking charge of Argentina, several Brazilian clubs, Sevilla FC and OM. Will his recipe work in the more peaceful context offered by the Ille-et-Vilaine team?
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