Giuly looks to banish the memories of 2004

BARCELONA winger Ludovic Giuly is hoping that a week which began in disappointment will end tomorrow night in Paris with vengeance for the worst football memory in his career.

The disappointment was Giuly’s surprise omission from France’s World Cup squad on Sunday, pipped to a place in Germany by Marseille’s uncapped bad-boy Franck Ribery.

The vengeance part has been festering for a while. Giuly was the captain and inspiration for Monaco when they reached the 2004 Champions League final. But it could not have gone worse for him. He missed a chance to score in the first 10 minutes, then hobbled off with a groin injury inside 20 minutes. Porto went on to win the game 3-0.

The fact that Giuly is set to line up against Arsenal is a success story all on its own.

He did well in his first season, scoring 11 goals in 29 games as he helped Barcelona to the Spanish league title.

But this season has been different, for two reasons — firstly, Giuly has had a few injuries to contend with and secondly, a youngster called Leo Messi has burst onto the scene and taken the Frenchman’s place in the starting line-up.

However, Giuly stepped in when Messi was ruled out for three months with a thigh injury sustained in the second leg of the Champions League tie against Chelsea back in March — and how. He scored the winner in the Champions League semi-final against AC Milan to earn his side a place in the final in Paris tomorrow.

“I was delighted to see it go in because I’ve hit the post and the bar so many times this year it is unbelievable. I went on a run where I hit the post three times in the same match and then hit the post four games running.

“It’s not easy to keep your confidence when that happens, you get the feeling it doesn’t want to go in.”

Giuly’s work ethic — and constant feeling that he has a point to prove — all stems from when he was smaller and ignored because of his size. “When I was 12 and scouts would turn up and only sign the big guys, I understood I would have to work twice as hard. I never got a complex about it, I just used it to build up my strength; now the bigger the guy I’m up against, the better.

I might not get my head on the ball all that often, but when it comes to acceleration and movement, I have a big advantage. And even if I’m not particularly well-built, they don’t scare me. I get stuck in, whether they’re 6’6’’ or not.”

But Giuly size complex pales into insignificance alongside the desperate to avenge the disaster of the 2004 final. “What we went through with Monaco was historic; apart from winning the World Cup, what could be more special than winning the Champions League?” he said.

“So you can imagine the heartbreak and disappointment I went through that day. That final was a real black day for me — not only did I lose the Champions League, but I also missed out on Euro 2004 because of my injury.”

Giuly was at a low ebb: at the peak of his powers yet reduced to a spectator for the rest of the summer.

“I was devastated, I kept saying to myself, ‘It’s just not possible’, and I went off on holiday a very unhappy man.”

Things improved soon after: “Fortunately my reward for our great campaign for Monaco was signing for Barcelona, that gave me a boost and helped pick me up again.”

And yet even that move was tinged with the memory of what might have been. The first person he saw after moving to Spain was his fellow new signing Deco, the man who had orchestrated Porto’s win in that final.

“It wouldn’t have been a good idea for anyone to take the mickey out of me as far as that subject is concerned,” Giuly said.

“Deco was very respectful and intelligent, it’s very tough to talk about a final when you’ve lost, he knows that, he was a real gentleman and he’s never spoken to me about it.”

If Barcelona can keep a clean sheet in the final against Arsenal, then you can be sure they will have opportunities to score. With Ronaldinho and Samuel Eto’o in their side coach Frank Rijkaard can afford to be without Messi for the game. The likelihood is that he will keep faith with Giuly and select him to play in the final in his own country, against the Frenchmen of Arsenal, who include his former Monaco team-mate Thierry Henry.

After all, Rijkaard understands the motivation behind Giuly’s desire to play in the game — that, and a change in fortune in his goalscoring efforts, may just be enough to earn him a place in the starting eleven. “To me, it feels like a book that’s missing the final chapter,” said Giuly.

“I’m hoping this final will give me my revenge. My only other wish is to be able to play it without injury — because I want to know how the story ends.”