Anelka the misunderstood tells herself: “They told lies about me, I never denied it and I became the bad guy …”

“Anelka the misunderstood”. It’s hard to find a better title for Netflix’s French documentary. To the point that he admits it himself, during an interview with theParisian. In which he talks about himself and about that day at the World Cup in South Africa when, after a clash with Domenech, the French national team rebelled against his coach.

MISUNDERSTOOD – Misunderstood therefore, in name and in fact. “The title was chosen by Netflix, but I like it. It defines well the player that I was and the misunderstandings that there were about my personality. I was different, reserved, even shy. My story is that of a person who refused to to be like the others in order to integrate. The others did not want to accept my being different “. So what is the real Anelka? “The real Anelka is the one you saw on the pitch, the other doesn’t exist. I didn’t want to talk to the press at the beginning of my career and I paid the price. Normally, if you tell lies about a player, in the end he replies to deny them. I never did it, I didn’t deny anything and I didn’t care. I was a kind of punching bag, I cashed in without ever answering. And the bad boy legend has grown easily. Then of course I have really did some things that fueled it … “.

2010 – Things like the head-on clash with Domenech at the 2010 World Cup. A scene, between insults and screams, that went around the world despite having happened in the sacred walls of the locker room. “What happened that day is what happens millions of times in every locker room. When you get to a certain level, you have to have some character. I just said ‘you just have to make your own shit team. “It was a locker room reaction, to change things, and there it had to stay. But not only did it come out, but it also came out the wrong way. I didn’t apologize in public because it’s something that happened in the locker room.” in front of the group I would have apologized. ” The group, however, is with Anelka and not with Domenech. And mutiny is triggered, which leads to an early elimination. An issue in which there is still controversy today. “I didn’t understand when, years later, some said they weren’t realizing they were doing something stupid. I was there when we made that decision, no one was forced to do anything and everyone knew what we were doing. I have no resentment. towards Domenech and before that moment we had a good relationship. But I never talked about him after that day. ” Misunderstood, of course. But maybe even a little bit of his fault …