Lizarazu pushed outside, the sad revelation

Admitting that he had to do “more than the others”, Bixente Lizarazu lived difficult moments at the Girondins de Bordeaux training center. “When I arrived at the Girondins training center, it's different because there, it's the elite already. There are the best players who are recruited for the training center. I really struggled. I arrived at the age of 13 and between 13 and 15 years old, I was really physiologically late compared to others ”.

The former French international was even pushed by an educator to arrest … “And unfortunately, there is an educator who one day told me 'it is not even worth hoping to become a professional footballer. You don't have the capacity for that. It was a first shock. My parents were there and it was a fairly painful moment. But it didn't slow me down. »»

Fortunately, the story ended well and the defender's XXL career was able to take off. These delicate moments allowed the Basque to forge a mind. “This is also the advantage when you have a defect, it is that you develop other qualities. Whenever I played against bigger or stronger guys than me, I had only one idea in mind, it was to make them (laughs). In Germany in particular, the players were very large, and to tell me that the big one of 1.95m, we were going to find ourselves on contact … (smile). It remained like a kind of obsession, a match in the match, and therefore a permanent motivation. »»

Champion of the 1998 world and winner of the Euro 2000 with the French team, winner of the Champions League in 2001 with Bayern Munich and crowned Germany champion many times, Bixente Lizarazu lived an exceptional football career.

However, the story could have turned short because of its size. This is entrusted with the former left side defender in the Podcast Winning Minds.

“The small side, too frail, obviously I had it violently at the Bordeaux Girondins but I had almost my whole life, because I was always the pitchoune as they say in the Basque Country. In the southwest, Pitchoune is the little one and I was always that for my friends ”, he regretted.

Lizarazu weighed down by an educator

Fortunately, the story ended well and the defender's XXL career was able to take off. These delicate moments allowed the Basque to forge a mind. “This is also the advantage when you have a defect, it is that you develop other qualities. Whenever I played against bigger or stronger guys than me, I had only one idea in mind, it was to make them (laughs). In Germany in particular, the players were very large, and to tell me that the big one of 1.95m, we were going to find ourselves on contact … (smile). It remained like a kind of obsession, a match in the match, and therefore a permanent motivation. »»