07/05/2002

DESAILLY DETECTS FACING 'CHEAT' INZAGHI

France defender Marcel Desailly has admitted he hates facing Filippo Inzaghi because the Italy forward would rather dive than get involved in a physical battle.

"The strikers I least like marking are Inzaghi and Hernan Crespo," he said. "I don't like any players why try to escape physical combat. For me it's a need, especially during big competitions when the adrenaline is high.

"That man-to-man battle is what I want and if they try to run away from it, that really winds me up.

"I adore Christian Vieri, Gabriel Batistuta and Patrick Kluivert as they impose a physical presence. But Inzaghi goes off crying and cheating, while Crespo prefers to make himself discreet and stay on the verge of offside."

Desailly will marshal the France defence at the World Cup this summer as his country attempt to make it a hat-trick of major tournament wins.

And the Chelsea star, a losing FA Cup finalist at the weekend, added that he was still driven on by the tragic death of his brother.

"When I was at Nantes, I was a real fighter, a scrapper, but I soon understood that in football it had to stop after the intimidation stage," he explained.

"I always give the impression of being calm and serene, but sometimes it's just an illusion. I often have self-doubt and a kind of shyness. I've never really talked about it, but I used to have a complex about my physique.

"Maybe it's an unconscious reference to my older brother Seth, who I idolised. I think I've got over all that now, but I remember it very well," he added to L'Equipe.

[Onefootball.com]