Although he is not a man of conflict, Bixente Lizarazu can have stubborn grudges. This is evidenced by his intransigence towards Luis Fernandez.
The unity of France 98, which had been the strength of Aimé Jacquet's group, was shattered a long time ago. Numerous clashes have opposed the heroes of July 12, 1998 in recent years and Didier Deschamps, the former captain of the Blues, now appears particularly isolated. One player nevertheless still seems in tune with everyone: Bixente Lizarazu.
If he did not hesitate to slap Lothar Matthaüs to mark his territory at Bayern Munich, the former Bordeaux player seems to get along well with everyone. Or almost. The Basque indeed maintains a deep enmity with Luis Fernandez, his former coach at Athletic Bilbao. Blame it on the comments made by the former midfielder after his departure from Athletic for Bayern Munich in the summer of 1997.
“Don’t piss me off about this”
Luis Fernandez had thus criticized Bixente Lizarazu for denying his Basque roots. An inexcusable attack for the former French defender. “ Don't piss me off about that (his Basque roots, editor's note). He was wrong to piss me off about that, and I will never forgive him. No, I won't forgive that.” he confided on the set of L’Equipe du Soir.
“You can talk about sports, whatever you want, but not about this. In addition, he said something completely ridiculous, which was that (according to him), the Basques would have asked me to never say that I was Basque again. It’s completely absurd and stupid to say.” he added, adding: “I really didn’t like it. On top of that, he left for Matra Racing when he was a PSG player, so the notion of betrayal, you shouldn't say anything. »
“In football, you decide to go to one club or another for certain reasons. Me, in Bilbao, I was not well because firstly I had pubalgia, and then because I felt that I was in a dead end there, he had justified. I made the decision to go to Bayern, and it was the best of my sporting career. So there you have it: there are times when you have to keep your mouth shut, and Luis didn't do it. »
France
