On the phone, the voice is hoarse with emotion.
Tears are never far away when talking about the man who was, for Max Guazzini, more than a player.
"Everyone loved him", will repeat on several occasions the former boss of the Parisian club.
Le Figaro: You were so close to Christophe Dominici…
Max Guazzini
: It's unimaginable.
I can't seem to realize.
I am devastated.
Words fail me… (
Long silence
).
It was such a shock when I learned about it in the early afternoon.
It was unbelievable, unbelievable.
(
new silence, even more moved
).
I think very strongly of his papa Jeannot, his mother, his wife, his two daughters.
It's appalling ...
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You brought him to the Stade Français in 1997, where he played until 2008. What relationship did you have with him?
He was my favorite player, it's no secret.
He was of course a great player.
A player of instinct.
Who played with his heart.
But, for me, he was more than a player.
There was genuine affection between the two of us.
We were going on vacation together.
He was someone I loved deeply.
(
Throat knotted
) He was solar.
Everyone loved him.
Several of his teammates called me crying.
It was a Stade Français family at the time ...
"'' Domi '' was so generous with others…"
Christophe Dominici, a rich career in images
In images, in pictures
Tell us why he was so loved?
He was warm, kind, full of love.
He was so loving.
And then he was funny, pleasant to live with.
I remember, every time he came to visit me in my house in the south, he brought me tomatoes, zucchini from his garden, wine too of course (
Christophe Doiminici owned a 13 hectare vineyard near Béziers, NDLR
).
He was like that Domi, so generous with others.
Also recently, he sent me 200 P2 masks that he had managed to obtain ...
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In his biography, published in 2007, he had recounted his illness, the episodes of depression he was going through…
He was fragile, yes.
And very sensitive.
He never recovered from the death of his sister (
Pascale, his older sister who disappeared in a car accident when he was 14 years old
)… He has always had this fragility in him.
This is probably also why everyone loved him.
I have received over a hundred messages, from all walks of life, not just rugby.
I have a lot of echo, even from Italy ...
How was he the last few weeks?
I fear that the story of the abortive takeover of Béziers has hurt him.
I remember in June he was enthusiastic, very enthusiastic.
It is very very hard what he went through then… What impact did that have on his gesture?
It's a violence for his wife, for his two daughters… You have to remember what a great player he was…
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Disappearance of Dominici: the XV of France in shock
