His appearances in the media have been rather rare in recent years.
But when Fabien Barthez speaks, his speeches rarely leave anyone indifferent, even more so when they concern his position as goalkeeper.
The former world and European champion and winner of the Champions League gave an interview to the daily L'Équipe in which he discusses the evolution of goalkeepers in modern football.
The opportunity to come back in particular to the alternation set up by Mauricio Pochettino at PSG between his two world-class goalkeepers, Gianluigi Donnarumma and Keylor Navas, almost a month after the debacle at the Santiago Bernabeu.
"Put two goalkeepers of this level in competition, it does not serve the team"
If he concedes the managerial difficulty that this position represented for the Argentine coach, Fabien Barthez believes that this competition has had a negative impact on the entire Parisian collective.
"I respect coaches a lot, I respect (Mauricio) Pochettino a lot and I know how difficult this job is, but putting two goalkeepers of this level in competition does not serve the team," he said.
This management raises several questions in the eyes of the man who won the title of best goalkeeper at the 1998 World Cup by winning ahead of Bernard Lama in the hierarchy of French goalkeepers: “What message are you sending to your goalkeepers?
What psychological dispositions do you place them in?
Who do you really trust for big dates?
What do outfield players say to each other?
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Donnarumma 'also lacked humility'
For the winner of the only Champions League of a French club with Olympique de Marseille in 1993, the defeat in the round of 16 second leg is closely linked to the problem of the choice of player in the Parisian goals and its effects on the rest of the group.
“You instill doubt in everyone, analyzes Fabien Barthez.
And then, it's the competition that makes you progress, not the training.
A guy like Donnarumma - or Navas for that matter - he has to play.
What happened at Real is the consequence of all that.
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In solidarity with his counterparts, the former goalkeeper of the Blues nevertheless gave his support to Gianluigi Donnarumma whose error of assessment launched the Madrid comeback in the last half hour of the meeting.
According to Fabien Barthez, the Italian is still in a learning phase: “I adore him, I have observed his performances for a long time and, for me, Benzema is at fault.
But on this one, he also lacked humility.
But, in a way, what happened to him makes sense.
He wins the Euro, he is full of confidence, he arrives in Paris and we put him in competition with Navas.
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