Bernard Lama was recently voted best goalkeeper in the history of PSG.
From 1992 to 2000 - with a parenthesis at West Ham between 1997 and 1998 - the 57-year-old Guyanese forged a solid record in the capital with the Cup of Cups in 1996, a championship (1994) and two cups of France ( 1993, 1995).
On the occasion of the club's 50th anniversary, the world and European champion with the Blues looks back for us on his Parisian years, “the most beautiful” of his career.
When you arrived at PSG in 1992, how did you see the club?
BERNARD LAMA.
None in particular.
The club had just been taken over by Canal +.
It was a good opportunity for me.
A moment that I had been waiting for for three years.
The right moment, even, that I had been waiting for for three years.
That's why I only stayed one season each time with Metz, Brest and Lens.
I wanted to join a big club and PSG showed up.
Marseille also wanted me to come to them but I was happy to come to Paris.
It was for the sporting environment of course but also a choice linked to French geopolitics.
Paris is the place of central power from where one can have access to the political elite of the country.
It was interesting for me to be closer to power to carry the voice of Guyana and influence certain decisions.
Did it work?
Yes because Jacques Chirac, the mayor of Paris at the time (
Editor's note: from 1977 to 1995
), was very close to PSG.
He also knew Guyana very, very well.
He had been there several times and knew my father who was mayor there for a long time.
There were therefore facilities for sending him messages.
I was able to create a personal relationship with Jacques Chirac during this period.
Then he became President of the Republic.
So from a political point of view, it was also a good choice to come to Paris.
Did PSG look like you thought they were?
So when we landed at Camp des Loges at that time, it was rather surprising (
laughs
).
It was shocking to find out that PSG did not have a proper training center.
The changing rooms, the pitches, it really wasn't that.
There were not even the prefabs that were installed afterwards.
The facilities were really not the size of the club.
It was, let's say, rather rural (
smiles
).
But we put these conditions aside.
We got used to it and it evolved over time.
The leaders reacted and did what was necessary.
We saw the club grow suddenly.
We helped bring it into the third millennium.
There are investments, first on the players and then on the equipment.
We were aware of participating in the writing of a new page in the history of the club.
And we did it in a beautiful way.
After the success in the Cup, Bernard Lama and the president of the club Michel Denisot came in the night to present the trophy in the premises of the Parisian.
LP / Jean-Marc Navarro
How was your arrival?
Well.
I knew the Bretons!
Those I had worked with in Brest like David Ginola, Joël Cloarec… We brought in the physiotherapist, Joël Le Hir.
George Weah also arrived at the same time.
I knew him when he was playing in Monaco, but we also met in Guyana where he had taken part in a tour.
We thought it would be nice to play together.
A few weeks later, I was in Paris.
With the Brazilians, it was easy because I speak Portuguese so the connection was made immediately.
I also often met Antoine Kombouaré on the sidelines of matches.
And when a Kanak and a Guyanese meet, it speaks (
smiles
).
With all this, we were able to create something.
We all quickly got closer.
We regularly ate our meals together.
The paradox of these complicated training conditions is that it created closeness between us.
With the results helping, there was an incredible atmosphere for long seasons.
There was a very positive dynamic, a lot of friendships were born from those moments.
The majority of the players lived in the Yvelines, it was only the singles who were in Paris.
So we often met as a family, also at golf where we had fun when we had a little time.
All these moments that we lived were the glue of what we achieved for the club.
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Have you also been able to discover the city of Paris?
When I played, I didn't take advantage of it.
I hardly could go there.
And it got frustrating as it went.
At the beginning, I could move around a bit, take the metro.
Then it became impossible because every time I went out there was a riot.
So I stopped going.
And it was finally when I stopped playing that I discovered the city, living there this time.
But when I was playing, I wasn't there for sightseeing, to take the time to visit.
I also find that it does not make too much sense that today's players live so much in Paris.
It is paradoxical and dangerous.
Besides, they were all burgled.
It's still a choice but I don't think it's a good idea to be so far from the training center.
But you weren't going out to Paris?
No, I wasn't going out.
Well, after the games, I would go to a restaurant and I would dance a little, but without exaggeration.
We didn't have time for that.
When you are pros, there are choices to be made.
You can't party all the time even though Paris is the ideal place for it.
There are things to do every night!
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Do you consider that you have spent the best years of your career at PSG?
Yes.
This is the most visible part of my career.
It took me ten years to get to a big club.
This is where I got all my selections, where I won all my titles.
I can only thank PSG even if I also participated in all of this obviously.
In terms of emotions, we have lived five or six extraordinary years with this series of participations in the European semi-finals.
Even if it ended in frustration.
But year after year, we built our legend and our track record.
We were one of the best European teams.
We were feared.
Apart from Juventus and especially the great AC Milan, no team has been really superior to us.
The Cup victory in 1996
(Editor's note: 1-0 against Rapid Vienna
) represented the culmination of this generation which carried the club.
We installed it at the highest European level.
Bernard Lama celebrates the title of champion of France 1994 with the public of the Parc des Princes./LP
Who is the player who marked you the most?
There are several.
But a boy like Ricardo was very impressive.
He was calm, didn't talk much.
But when he opened his mouth, we listened to him.
Either way, he was talking on the pitch.
It is one of those that I preferred, with which I exchanged the most.
We understood each other without having to make long speeches.
And then there was George Weah… We got together a lot by spending three years in the same room.
Especially at a time when we were more often outside than at home.
We were very complementary, we adapted to each other.
We encouraged each other, we concentrated, we prepared our matches.
And we took care of each other too.
There was civil war in Liberia when he was playing in Paris.
You had to be at his side.
The period was very complicated for him, he did not know where his family was.
War, until we have lived it, we cannot know what it is.
We did not experience the war on our territory as our parents or our grandparents did.
But with a teammate who lived it from a distance, I found myself involved.
It was difficult to know what to do to help him.
It is these encounters that remain.
The victories and the defeats pass.
But it is these positive as well as negative emotions that have built this group and these friendships.
They are the glue.
When we meet again, we are also all happy, it's as if we had left the day before.
We immediately find our affinities.
It is beautiful that this period continues even today.
We met for the 20th anniversary of the 1996 victory. We spent two days together in Paris without letting go.
There are some very strong things that were created at that time.
They are indelible.
Do you have any regrets?
No, because we did what we had to do with our means.
We can obviously regret such and such a match, but it's too late.
We have sometimes fallen against stronger than us.
AC Milan, for example, was far above.
Above all, there are memories of good years, the best of my career, those in which I won all my titles.
This is what guides us, what we are committed to in a professional career.
With PSG, I won everything except the Champions League.
I can only be satisfied.
What relationship do you keep with PSG?
I follow the club, I watch what happens there.
We recently relaunched the association of former PSG to see each other a little more often.
There is a real attachment to this club.
Spending seven years in this club leaves a lifelong mark.
We are all marked by this period.
It is a club apart, that of the capital, the one we talk about the most in France.
He has become a big machine.
VIDEO. The meeting place for PSG legends: Bernard Lama
Besides, do you still recognize him?
It took on another dimension.
You just have to go to the training center to figure it out.
It's not the same thing at all.
But the club also knew not to cut the links with its history, it cannot be erased.
A junction between the generations is still missing.
If the club is where it is today, it is also because many old people have passed by and have laid a stone.
For a period, the bond loosened.
But for a few years now on the part of the leaders the awareness that it is necessary to keep this relationship with the former players.
We have to do more, that we also offer more on our side.
The portraits of alumni displayed around the Park are an honor, it shows that we have marked the history of this club.
Do you feel this connection with the supporters?
I was well adopted by the supporters even if when I arrived, it was very hot with the Boulogne kop.
We have been able to pacify all of this.
When I left, it was not the same.
For my last match, the Boulogne supporters refused to leave the stadium until I came to greet them.
There was respect.
Is the PSG a good fifties?
Rather yes!
Especially when looking at the club's record.
There aren't many who can compete in France.
There is none even.
He is now a little more important on the international scene, he still misses this victory in the Champions League.
Which remains very difficult.
This step, it misses many clubs.
The competition is even higher than in our time.
But there is no reason that PSG cannot seek victory in the coming seasons.
But it's not having the best players that matters, you have to have the best team.