On May 19, 2017, during the penultimate day of the Ligue 2 championship, Amiens SC, then sixth in the standings, was heading towards a draw against Reims and saw its rise to Ligue 1 compromised. But in the 96th minute of play, Emmanuel Bourgaud changed the destiny of his club with a kick. 7 years later, he lives in Maine-et-Loire today.
“I got closer to the free kick to take it because I was the team’s official shooter. I had missed two or three just before. So I see Thomas (Monconduit) who tells me “I’m going to take it to pull. Go in front of the goal”. Everyone positions themselves opposite the ball. And I position myself on the right, on the left side of the goal and I find myself with a defender. The ball is long. It arrives at Harisson Manzala who puts it back with a touch of the foot. It goes to Oualid El Hajjam who deflects it with his head. He is in a duel with a Rémois. Instead of rushing, I let the ball go. bounce a second time to do anything and not put the ball over because I know it’s the last action And I’m taking my time. In my head, I tell myself. “concentrate. Frame it and we’ll see what happens.” She passes through a forest of legs and it’s a deliverance for the team and all the people of Amiens. I remember it as if it were yesterday.”
However, that was just 7 years ago. But Emmanuel Bourgaud has not forgotten any detail of this historic goal scored in the 96th minute of the ASC match in Reims during the 38th and penultimate day of Ligue 2.
Thanks to the unexpected kick from its attacking midfielder, scored seven minutes before the end of normal time, Amiens moved up to Ligue 1 for the first time in the club’s history.
A feat which still continues today the one we nickname on the pitch “the man from the 96th” : “This goal is a defining moment in my career. When you bring a club that has never played at this level into Ligue 1 with just one goal, it’s exceptional. It’s a Source of pride, it’s is unforgettable so it’s a pleasure to tell this 96th again and again ! Often, opponents talk to me about it. It’s a bit weird because it follows me everywhere I sign!”
Originally from the Loire Valley, the former Amiens still plays football. At 36, he played this season in Nationale 2, the fourth level of French football, with Olympique Saumur. A club relegated to N3 for next year. But for Manu, whatever the level, “It’s simply the passion for football. I love football. That’s why I run behind a ball!”
Emmanuel Bourgaud does not only share his experience as a professional player with his teammates. The ASC alumnus is currently working on obtaining his football instructor certificate. And on Wednesday afternoon, it’s the club’s U13s who benefit from his good advice. Young people who all know their coach’s 96th having seen it more than once, “on TV eh!! Not in real life!!”
Emmanuel Bourgaud’s professional activity is not limited to football but nevertheless remains focused on sport. Three years ago, he opened a gym in Angers with his childhood friend Mickael: “We’ve known each other since we were 5/6 years old. Childhood friends and football players together! smiled the young man. We started together in a very small club, at UC Corné until he left for a training center at the age of 13. I followed his career in all the clubs! The 96th, I experienced it live but on TV. I was supposed to go see the match but because of work, I couldn’t make it. So I was watching TV with friends. And I remember it very well because my TV almost played there! I was happy for him because it was deserved! Considering all the work he had put in.”
Even in his gym, the ASC is never far away: on the wall, the jerseys of Manu’s friends including that of Prince Guano or Gaël Kakuta. He is still in contact with the former goalkeeper, Régis Gurtner. These Amiens people, we called them “the robbers” at the time: they had experienced two rises, from Nationale 1 to Ligue 2, then from Ligue 2 to Ligue 1, in the space of two seasons. “We didn’t give up from the first to the last minute. And then a lot of players were vengeful, explains Emmanul Bourgaud. I had already tasted Ligue 2. There were others. And we arrived at the ASC which was a former professional club with good infrastructures even if it was in the National. I, who started Angers in Ligue 2 and who came back down to the National, I thought that football was National or even League 2 at most. But with this goal, it allowed me to reach Ligue 1. And it was a childhood dream that came true.”
A childhood dream that comes true thanks to a gesture that Emmanuel Bourgaud seems to have made his specialty: in October 2023, during the first day away from Saumur against Angoulême, he scored on a free kick from twenty meters away, another times in the 96th minute.
With Laurent Pénichou
