“The logic is that the black man should sweep the white man ?”: Mamadou Sakho breaks his silence and delivers his version of the clash with Michel Der Zakarian

Recruté à l'été 2021, Mamadou Sakho a disputé 49 matches sous le maillot du MHSC. Midi Libre – JEAN-MICHEL MART

The former MHSC defender, who left after a “brawl” with the coach in November 2023, was a guest on Canal + Afrique on Friday September 27. He described his vision of the facts and announced upcoming legal proceedings.

“I told myself that we would have to clean up the name Sakho which represents my father. I will not let anyone in my lifetime tarnish that name." Nearly a year later, Mamadou Sakho broke his silence on Friday.

Having left Montpellier HSC after a clash with coach Michel Der Zakarian on October 21, 2023, the former Hérault defender was a guest on the show J-1, broadcast on Canal + Africa. "This is not my truth but THE truth", he said, before giving his version of an event that had largely marked the difficult season of the MHSC.

Two defamation complaints

The former international specified during this interview that he was going to file two defamation complaints, against a colleague from L’Équipe as well as a "journalist 2.0 on Twitter (now X)" because that they “spread a message that was not reality”, he believes, adding that he is taking legal action “to protect the little brothers who come after".

“They wrote that I, Mamadou Sakho, had given my coach a good once-over. I'm 34, with 4 kids, no one is going to sully my reputation, especially when it's not true. Why didn't they write the opposite?? For them, a Mamadou, who comes from a black neighborhood, in front of a white coach, Michel, the logic is that the black man should sweep the white man aside ?", the player wonders. "I don't know what interest they had in writing that, if they received a baksheesh (bribe, Editor's note) from someone”, he added, specifying: “They are lucky not to have met me when I was 18 and reacted differently.”

“I grab him by the collar, too”

On October 21, 2023, the former PSG captain and Michel Der Zakarian had clashed in the locker room of the MHSC training center in Grammont. Facts that led to Sakho's departure from the club on November 2. The defender gave his version on the encrypted channel, describing a coach who arrived “angry at training” before a tough video session. This was followed by a training session that went “very, very badly”, “without refereeing”, according to Sakho, the victim of a foul and gone to the locker room “to take a deep breath and avoid conflict”, he said.

There, Michel Der Zakarian would have come to ask him if he had been injured. “I answered him with two words: “No coach, calm down”. He leaves and says: “Anyway, you do as you wish, like in a match””. The conversation would have continued in “the physiotherapists' room” and in a certain “tension”.

In his version, Sakho certifies that if “the tone was sustained, I'm not going to act like a little lamb, there was no insult”. He continues his story: “The coach turns, comes towards me, in a hysterical way. “I'm not afraid of you”. He puts his head against mine and pushes me at the chest. I grab him by the collar, too. I told him “You don't raise your hand to me, I'm not your son”. I remained stoic, shocked by the scene, with a rage in me, my look said it all. […] His chain is underneath and when I decide to let go of him, with the 7 or 8 players who were pushing (to separate, Editor's note), the coach fell", he says.

"Even the 93 players don't give their coach a brush"

About ten days after this clash, the MHSC announced in a press release the separation "in good faith". The player wants to see in this agreement proof of his innocence. "A player who hits a coach is immediately fired. That wasn't my case. For the intelligent, you have to ask yourself the question."

Convinced of his good faith, Sakho wants proof of a previous clash. During the previous preparation, against Nice, he would have seen the player defend his coach against the insults of an OGCN player in the stands. "Even the players from the 93, from the neighborhood, don't brush their coach aside. It's me, Mamadou Sakho, after 20 years of career, married, 4 children, who will behave badly knowing that three months before I defended him in front of a player ?"

At the end of this interview of about fifteen minutes, Mamadou Sakho concludes. "When you are serene, when you know that you can look at yourself in a mirror, that you have nothing to reproach yourself for, you don't need… We must let the gossips speak."

Mamadou Sakho's adventure in Montpellier lasted a little over two years, for 49 appearances. This break in silence from the defender comes at a time when the start of the season for MHSC has put Michel Der Zakarian in difficulty, who has made strong choices in his dressing room.