Emotions, gags, statements, outbursts or rants. The world of sport has been punctuated by many funny and unique lunar scenes this year. Whether in football, rugby, tennis, cycling or even basketball, find the non-exhaustive selection of Le Figaro.
On November 9, Toulouse FC achieved the incredible feat of knocking out Liverpool in the Europa League (3-2) at home. At the end of the match, the chants of the Occitan fans, celebrating this exceptional victory against the six-time Champions League winner club, disturbed Reds coach Jurgen Klopp at a press conference. So much so that the 56-year-old German coach did not hear any questions from the journalists present. “Whose idea was it to hold the press conference here? It would be interesting to know… wow,” said the former Dortmund technician, visibly annoyed by this funny scene.
Last December 3 in the Premier League, 95th minute of play between Manchester City and Tottenham. The score is 3-3 between Cityzens and Spurs when Erling Haaland, after resisting a sliding tackle, throws his teammate Jack Grealish deep. The Englishman goes alone on goal but a whistle from Simon Hooper, the referee of the match, stops this final Mancunian action. Well inspired to give the Skyblues the advantage initially, the man in black finally blew the whistle late, causing hysteria among Pep Guardiola’s players and especially Erling Haaland. The Norwegian rushed in front of the referee to show his anger before reacting to the controversy on X (formerly Twitter), a few minutes after the match. “Wtf” (“What the Fuck”) had simply written the 2nd of the last Ballon d’Or 2023, in complete incomprehension and astonishment.
On August 26, 2023, Chelsea coach Mauricio Pochettino, present at a press conference, seems to no longer know who Malang Sarr, one of the players on his squad, is. A funny and lunar scene for the 51-year-old coach, which can be justified by the limitless recruitment of Chelsea which has been piling up players for two years. It’s difficult to see clearly for the Argentinian in his squad. “Who ? Who is it ? I don’t know what to tell you. I don’t know because you surprised me and so I’m stunned. It’s as if you had punched me without warning,” Pochettino justified himself to get out of this delicate situation.
In great difficulty since the start of the season, Olympique Lyonnais has left the relegation zone and has been gradually recovering over the past few weeks. On September 3, after the slap received at home against PSG (4-1) in Ligue 1, Lyon supporters addressed the players who came to meet them after the match. “The message is addressed to you, the message is clear: if there are executives in this locker room, they no longer have the right to remain silent,” explains the leader of the Bad Gones in the Virage Nord. You wear the Olympique Lyonnais jersey.”
Starting in a monologue, the Bad Gones kapo did not hesitate to directly challenge the players. “Hey, no need to hide your mouth behind your fingers, if you want to say something we can talk. For now, you listen to me, you listen to us. You wear the OL jersey. Others before you have glorified it, you have no right to sully it. Now the transfer window is over. The workforce is there.” The Rhone supporter was still careful not to undermine the bond between the fans and the OL players. “We only ask one thing: to be by your side. For this, you have to deserve it. We want to sing your names with love, not like those of the three little bastards who left our club in the last six months (Malo Gusto, Castello Lukeba, Bradley Barcola). We want to sing your names with respect and love. We expect you to respect the jersey, to tear yourself away on the pitch. Fortunately, since then, the sky has cleared towards Lyon and a similar scene should not happen again.
As is often the case in recent years, Thibaut Pinot has burst onto the screen. The darling of the French public took part in his last cycling season, and did not miss his farewell with the French supporters. The sequence took place during the Tour de France, on July 22, during the penultimate day of. Thousands of “Ultras Pinots” gathered in the Vosges, two kilometers from the legendary Col du Petit Ballon, to celebrate their champion and pay him a final tribute. And the storyline couldn’t have been more beautiful. At the front all day and with ants in his feet, the FDJ rider took “his” turn in the lead, in the middle of his thousands of fans. Like Marc Madiot, his iconic team director, it was difficult to contain his emotions at the sight of the Franc-Comtois tearing through the crowd with full ball. If he has experienced many disappointments on the Great Loop, this memory should bring comfort to his heart.
If the XV of Clover saw its progress stopped in the quarter-final of the World Cup by the All Blacks, it is not the fault of its supporters. Throughout the competition, the Irish pushed their team with passion. A song also became their unofficial anthem from the third match against South Africa (13-8 victory). At the end of the match, the entire Stade de France, dressed in green for the occasion, sang the song “Zombie” by the Cranberries in unison. A moment of communion savored by those involved in the match, like captain Jonathan Sexton: “I had never seen an audience like this.” And despite being eliminated in the final stages, they did it again one last time.
When the qualities of Olivier Giroud are mentioned, they generally revolve around the attack: an impressive header, a fox’s flair for the surfaces… yet against Genoa during the eighth day of Serie A, the French striker stood out in another sector. After Mika Maignan received a red card at the end of the match, it was the Milan striker who had to take his place in the goals. And far from penalizing his team, he even made a decisive save, allowing his team to win. In the week that followed, the reactions were numerous, so much so that he was voted best goalkeeper in the Italian championship! AC Milan even put Giroud flocked goalkeeper jerseys on sale. Not sure, however, that Didier Deschamps will give him a chance in this position in the selection.
Oh no, it was not a Paralympic event. On October 2, the Famenne Ardenen Classic took place in Belgium. The fate of the race came down to a sprint, which Arnaud De Lie seemed to have knocked out. But a few meters from the finish, the Belgian “took off his shoes” by losing control of a pedal. By pedaling with one leg, he still managed to cross the finish line in the lead. A victory that he recounted on Eurosport: “I would have won quite easily without that. My bilge plate broke, it was bad luck. I can laugh about it, if I had lost, I would have won as they say. I went off the rails, I tried to put the chain back on at the same time as pedaling.”
Images that are more lunar than funny. On November 15, French pivot Rudy Gobert was strangled by Warriors power forward Draymond Green, logically excluded, during a fight at the start of the match between Minnesota and Golden State (104-101), in the NBA. The game had barely started, when no points had been scored, a scuffle broke out between Jaden McDaniels (Minnesota) and Klay Thompson (Golden State). Gobert then quickly intervened to separate them when he was violently squeezed by the throat with his arm, from behind, by Green for several seconds in an impressive and rare altercation in basketball.
Suspended five games for this gesture and accustomed to bloodshed, the Warriors star (33 years old) did it again, on December 13, by delivering a punch to the pivot of the Phoenix Suns, Jusuf Nurkic. The NBA suspended him “until further notice” taking “into account his history of unsportsmanlike actions.” See you in 2024 to calm down Mr. Green.
Did you say sore loser? Head for tennis and clay. A favorite of the French public since a round of 16 reached at Roland-Garros in 2020, Hugo Gaston distinguished himself in 2023 with two titles gleaned in Challenger, in Iasi (Romania) and Trieste (Italy). But near Verona in July, the Toulouse man was talked about in the wrong way.
Already sanctioned earlier in the season by the ATP for an anti-gambling gesture, the 104th player in the world made a fool of himself during a match against the Argentinian Marco Trungelliti. Then trailing 6-3, 2-6, 2-5 and 0-40, on his serve, Gaston preferred to give up rather than try to save the three match points against him. Original but very unclassy.
June 2, 2023. 38th day of Ligue 2. Leading 1-0 against Dijon, the HAC is preparing to celebrate its return to the elite of French football but there are 30 seconds left to play. Moment chosen, a little too early, by the supporters of Ciel et Marine to invade the pitch of the Stade Océane. Problem is, the final whistle has not yet sounded. The Le Havre coach Luka Elsner, furious, is agitated in all directions and asks the public to go back to the stands. Referee Romain Lissorgue then sends the 22 players back to the locker room and the risk of a match being stopped exists.
Finally, the meeting will resume a quarter of an hour later… without Pascal Dupraz’s Dijon players, who never returned to the field. Five seconds later, it was the real liberation for the Le Havre players and their supporters. The rise to Ligue 1 is validated in drunkenness after the great confusion.
In mild weather in mid-November, triathlete Emmanuel Texier was joined by wild boars during running training in Talmont-Saint-Hilaire, in Vendée. Surprised but not frightened, the LSVT (Les Sables Vendée Triathlon) licensee filmed the scene with his phone. The unusual images were relayed by Les Sables Vendée Journal.
“The funny thing, as I’m not very tall, is that my nickname in the Sables triathlon club is the wild boar,” explains Emmanuel Texier, followed by the animals for long minutes. He was accompanied by his wife, who “got scared and immediately went to hide.” The charm of the countryside.
