Coupe de France: the prestigious bar that MHSC coach Michel Der Zakarian will reach against Nice

Comme joueur, Michel Der Zakarian avait déjà totalisé 273 matches entre 1988 et 1997. Midi Libre – JEAN-MICHEL MART

Le coach franco-arménien va un peu plus marquer de son empreinte son passage au MHSC lors de la réception de Nice, ce mercredi 7 février (20 h 30), lors des 8es de finale de la Coupe de France.

He won't change. Not now that it is about to become a bicentenary. This Wednesday, during the round of 16 of the Coupe de France against Nice at La Mosson, Michel Der Zakarian will lead Montpellier HSC for the 200th time. News that the person concerned welcomes with his legendary reserve. In a few words but a smirk that says a lot.

"I'm very happy, it really makes me happy. But these are just stats", he commented at a press conference on Tuesday. Stats, just stats, really ? In a football where everything moves faster than the ball, and in particular the coaches' heads, aren't these figures worth more? &amp ;quot;It's good, it shows that we last, that's it", Der Zak forces himself, to whom we don't do it.

A name ever more in the history of La Paillade

Nevertheless, with this milestone, the Franco-Armenian technician anchors his name a little more in the history of a Paillade that he had already helped to build. As a player, MDZ, the rough central defender, played 273 games between 1988 and 1997, winning the 1990 Coupe de France before playing in the 1994 final as captain (3-0 defeat against Auxerre). Thirty years later, the native of Yerevan is still there. With less hair and a worn coaching cap on the benches of L1 and L2 since 2007 and a first experience at FCNantes, the other club of his heart.

"I am very proud of the career I have had since 1979, when I returned to the Nantes training center, at 15 and a half years old, he confides. I’had the career I dreamed of." And perhaps even beyond, with 647 meetings under my belt coach.

"I eat snakes but I let them flow"

Exceptional longevity that this son of an immigrant, raised on the grain of Mazargues in Marseille, has built with the strength of his wrist, with a piercing gaze, with a voice that door and of a rare sincerity. But also brilliant strokes often relegated behind limited media communication or a game labeled “defensive” whatever the weather.

Yet, with him, Montpellier put an end to never-ending shortages: in Saint-Etienne, in Bordeaux or against Monaco, a real black beast beaten in the Principality in 2018 after 24 years of waiting. The four L1 top 10s achieved during his first stint (2017-21) mark a real feat. That his return last February, sealed by a resounding recovery (3rd in L1 over the last 15 days), maintained.

But this credit does not exempt it from questioning and short memories, in a delicate moment for the MHSC (13th in L1). "I'm going to be 61 in not even two weeks, I'm not going to worry, yet I worry a lot. I let it flow a little, I eat snakes but I let it flow", he said. "Criticism has always existed, it does not exist ;rsquo;won't stop." And Der Zak won't change.

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