Anigo plans glorious future for Marseille
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Your support makes all the difference.Jose Anigo is determined the legacy of Marseille's second European success will be greater than their first.
Jose Anigo is determined the legacy of Marseille's second European success will be greater than their first.
The club's coach remembers 11 years ago when his home town club beat Milan to win the Champions' League. He also recalls the subsequent match-fixing scandal which saw them stripped of their French League title, relegated and barred from defending their title.
This time Anigo wants to use victory over Valencia in tonight's Uefa Cup final to kick off a new era.
"We are building a glorious future just as we have had a glorious past," he said. "I believe this is the starting point and an adventure from which we are learning all the time. This is a new phase for the club and one in which we cannot limit ourselves to playing for sixth or seventh place in the French League.
"We are sick and tired of not winning anything. In two or three years' time my dream is that our team will be back amongst the best in Europe."
Five months ago Anigo was directing the club's youth academy when he got the call to replace the sacked Alain Perrin. His impact was immediate - his team saw off both Liverpool and Newcastle and he has been rewarded with a contract extension until 2005.
Today his chance of capping Marseille's comeback from near-oblivion is significantly boosted by the availability of Didier Drogba. The Ivory Coast striker has hit 11 goals in the competition this season but faced a fight to be fit after sustaining a hip injury against Monaco nine days ago.
Despite the player's own reservations, Anigo announced he would start the game. "Didier is 100 per cent fit," Anigo said, "and he will be playing in the final. It took us some time to get him back on his feet but now everything is perfectly fine."
The goalkeeper, Fabien Barthez, is the only survivor from the 1993 side which won in Munich.
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