Elye Wahi, the scathing response!

While Elye Wahi had a difficult first appearance at the Stade Vélodrome on Sunday against Reims (2-2), we must remember the previous Didier Drogba, who remembers having suffered during his first matches at OM.

Elye Wahi has taken a beating. The new OM striker was booed at the Stade Vélodrome against Reims (2-2), after missing numerous opportunities in the first half. But to find comfort, the former Lens player can watch this interview with Didier Drogba, where the former darling of the Vélodrome remembers being heckled by the Marseille crowd at his debut, during a Champions League preliminary round match against Austria Vienna.

“Heatwave. It’s my first match at the Vélodrome. The coach puts me in the starting lineup. And then, I missed opportunity after opportunity,

says Drogba in an interview with YouTuber Zack Nani. In front of the goal, almost on the line… I head it, the ball bounces and goes over. I flatten it, I crush the shot and the goalkeeper takes it.

Drogba had a difficult evening on the pitch.

“We won 1-0 in the first leg, with a goal from Sychev, and in the return we drew 0-0, so we were under pressure for 90 minutes.”he remembers. But what followed was even more difficult, with a conversation with one of his sisters, in the car leaving the stadium. “How long did you sign for in Marseille?”she asked him.

“Four years? Listen, we have to find a way out quickly.”

For Drogba, “it was the trigger”

In the stands of the Vélodrome, Drogba’s sister heard some supporters attacking the new OM striker, and mocking him when they learned that he came from Guingamp (“He’s a peasant!”) and that he was Ivorian (“Like Bakayoko!”). “The guys finished me off… She shared that with me, and that was it,” says Drogba today, who found a form of motivation in these criticisms: “Okay now I’ll show them.”

Marseille has not forgotten what came next. Drogba had a 32-goal season in all competitions, notably helping OM reach the UEFA Cup final. He would only stay one season on the Canebière, before being recruited at a high price by Chelsea, the nouveau riche of European football.

It should be noted that the story is a bit romanticized. Before this match on August 27 against Vienna, Drogba had already played twice at the Vélodrome, in Ligue 1. He had also already scored two goals, in Lens and against Sochaux. But it remains a good example to follow for Wahi, who will have to respond in turn on the field.