Didier Deschamps never forgave. And Eric Cantona never apologized. The two men, ex-teammates in the jersey of the France team (1989-1994 era) now aged 51 and 53, were supposed to meet this Friday at 1:30 p.m. in front of the 17th correctional chamber of the Court of Justice from Paris. Except that, in all likelihood, the hearing will be adjourned due to the lawyers' strike.
A request was made to this effect on Thursday by the advice of the two former players of OM and the Blues. If it is accepted, which is very likely, the trial will then be rescheduled but not before 2021 according to the deadlines in force at the 17th chamber. Not sure under these conditions that the procedure really goes to completion.
Originally, the coach of the Blues had filed a complaint on June 3, 2016 against the ex-idol of Manchester United become actor, for public defamation. In question, comments made by Cantona in the May 26, 2016 edition of the English newspaper The Guardian. Under cover of certain oratorical precautions, the King then put forward the idea that Didier Deschamps may have chosen not to select Karim Benzema and Hatem Ben Arfa for Euro 2016 (organized in France between June 10 and July 10) based on ethnic and racial criteria.
"No one in his family is mixed with someone, you know"
According to the order in which his words were published in the targeted article, Eric Cantona begins with a charge on the patronymic of the patron of the Blues. “Benzema is a great player, Ben Arfa is a great player. But Deschamps, it has a very French name. He is perhaps the only one in France to have a truly French name. No one in his family is mixed with someone, you know. Like Mormons in the United States. Before talking a little more specifically about Karim Benzema.
The Real Madrid striker had just been indicted a few months earlier in the matter of Mathieu Valbuena's sextape. Prior to the publication of the list of 23 selected for the Euro, the then Prime Minister (Manuel Valls) expressed his wish that Benzema would not be selected, an opinion then shared by 70 to 80% of the French.
Eric Cantona claims Didier Deschamps may have left out France players on racial grounds https://t.co/aFX2FuwLnT via @guardian_sport
- The Guardian (@guardian) May 26, 2016"I am not surprised that he used Benzema's situation not to take him," Cantona launched in this context. Especially after Manuel Valls said he shouldn't be playing for France. Ben Arfa is perhaps the best player in France today. But they have origins. I am allowed to wonder about this. "
Owen Gibson, the Guardian journalist, then raised Eric Cantona, still in the English language, to find out if he implied that Didier Deschamps was guilty of discrimination against Benzema and Ben Arfa in his eyes. "Maybe yes, maybe no," Canto says. Why not ? One thing is certain. Benzema and Ben Arfa are two of the best French players and they will not play the Euro. And certainly, Benzema and Ben Arfa have North African origins. So the debate is open. "
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The very day of publication of the Guardian article, Didier Deschamps, monopolized by the preparation of the Euro, did not react. Comedian Jamel Debbouze abounds in the sense of Canto, social networks are unleashed and Benzema, himself, said in an interview with Marca that his coach "yielded to pressure from a racist part of France". In high point, on June 3, the house of Deschamps' wife, in Concarneau (Finistère) is tagged with the words "racist". For DD, this is too much. The same day, he files a complaint against Eric Cantona for public defamation, believing that the kick-off of this tormented sequence corresponds to the article in the Guardian.
A 20-year-old liability
In the background, the two men, "antipodally on an emotional level" according to a close friend of Deschamps, vow a 20-year-old enmity. Captain of the Blues at the start of the Jacquet era in 1994, Cantona disappeared from the international scene in 1995. Was the Marseillais technically or humanly incompatible with the Zidane-Djorkaeff generation? From Euro 1996, Deschamps took over the armband so as not to let it go until his last selection in 2000.
When contacted, Me Céline Bekerman, the lawyer from Cantona, defends the idea that the defamatory nature of the remarks made by her client is not at all constituted and intends to plead good faith. According to her, his speaking would only be a “personal and subjective consideration which engages only him” or even “an intellectual reasoning which one is free to appreciate the relevance”. An approach challenged by Me Carlo Alberto Brusa, lawyer for Deschamps. “With these words, Eric Cantona did not simply ask questions with the aim of raising awareness. He wanted, once again, to harm Didier Deschamps, the man, the coach, the coach, the former player ”.
The double world champion claims € 10,000 in damages from Eric Cantona. A sum which would be donated to the Yellow Pieces operation, of the Paris Hospitals Foundation.