Marcel DESAILLY – Biography of his football career at Chelsea. – Chelsea FC

Marcel’s ambition of playing one more Champions League campaign became a
reality when Chelsea qualified for Europe’s premier competition
courtesy of a fourth-placed finish at the end of 2002/03. For the first
time in five years the Blues were unfancied for a title challenge when
the season began, but spent most of the season in the top four, and even
held on to second spot for a month either side of Christmas. With a
wily Italian coach at the helm it was no surprise that the success was
founded on a solid defensive base – Chelsea conceded just 38 goals that
season – and Desailly appeared in the back-four 31 times. The entire
campaign came down to a final day shootout with Liverpool for the one
remaining Champions League spot, and it was a day for unlikely heroes.
Needing just a draw to qualify, Chelsea fell behind early but quickly
responded, and it was Marcel who pulled Chelsea level with an athletic
header from Jesper Gronkjaer’s cross. It was just his second goal of the
season, the other coming in a 3-0 defeat of Sunderland. Gronkjaer’s low
shot completed a good day’s work and it was Marcel who led a new-look
Chelsea side, significantly strengthened by the arrival of Russian
billionaire Roman Abramovich, back into Champions League action at the
start of the following campaign. Marcel played the first seven matches
of the season but was regularly troubled by tendonitis and was rarely
able to match the standards of yesteryear.

A dreadful performance in a
4-2 defeat at Charlton highlighted the difficulties Desailly was having
in maintaining the required form and fitness, and he became very much
third choice as the Terry/Gallas partnership continued to blossom, with
Chelsea keeping a miserly 21 clean sheets from 38 Premiership matches. A
tremendous performance as an early substitute for Glen Johnson against
Stuttgart in the Champions League served as a reminder that the talent
remained, but it was a rare glimpse of the Frenchman at his imperious
best that season. He played in the first-leg of the CL quarter-final
against Arsenal but, having already been booked, was sent-off for a rash
challenge on Patrick Vieira, although TV replays showed that he failed
to make contact with the theatrical Arsenal skipper. Suspended for the
victorious second-leg, Marcel returned for the semi-final first-leg in
Monaco but was again exposed by sharper, quicker opponents and angered
his countrymen (and many amongst his own supporters) with his response
to a red-card being shown to a home player after some play-acting by
Claude Makelele. The next match proved to be his last in a Chelsea
shirt, and it was a sad ending to a fine career, as he was at fault for
both Newcastle goals in an unlucky 2-1 defeat. Marcel retired from
international football after a disappointing Euro 2004 in which he
appeared once and was immediately dropped after another erratic
performance, and on his return from Portugal it was announced that he
had reached an amicable settlement on the final year of his contract
with Chelsea and would be leaving the club. (Kelvin Barker)