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[dissonance]
A NETFLIX ORIGINAL DOCUMENTARY
[ominous music]
[crowd roars]
[Nicolas] Everything I've done, don't do it.
Everyone will turn on you.
[crowd roars]
Will you overcome your difficulties? I don't know.
Are you mentally strong? I don't know.
You wanna be like me? It's pointless. You're not me.
And if you really wanna be like me and do what I've done...
get ready.
[electronic music]
I think if Nico wanted to make a film,
there would be more parts than Harry Potter.
He could also do it like Star Wars,
where the end is the beginning, but the beginning isn't really the end.
-[fast-paced music] -[cheering]
[commentator] He scored again!
Anelka's made it two!
[in French] The Che.
[both in French] The Che.
[Patrice] He's a guy who doesn't pull punches.
He's a guy I'd trust my life to. He's a guy you can count on.
[journalist] Here's the 17-year-old who is shaking up football.
I think Nicolas Anelka is almost the forgotten footballer.
[man] Nico is a person that stands out. You either love him or hate him.
Nico is no angel when he doesn't feel like being an angel.
[commentator] An unsporting gesture from Anelka.
[journalist] He said earlier today:
"He'll have to get down on his knees for me to come back on the French team."
Nico doesn't know how to be politically correct.
[journalist] Nicolas Anelka expelled from France's national team.
If these events are accurate,
they are unacceptable.
When you look at everything they've accused him of,
when you know him, it makes it even more infuriating
because what they tell you is the opposite of who he is.
Champions League? Here you are.
Nico is like a big brother. He always gave me advice.
[F. Hollande] It's all the excesses of our society: money, individualism...
In my view...
we're talking about one of the greatest strikers in history.
[commentator] He's done well here. Got away, put a shot...
What a goal that is!
[sighs] Oh, Nico, fuck...
[ominous music]
DUBAI UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
[silence]
[Nicolas] You OK, son? It's time.
-[soft music] -It's time to go to school.
It's time...
Well done!
Very good.
[soft music continues]
Kais, it's time.
It's time.
Hey.
I never said that I was retiring...
because I don't care.
It's not important.
[Nicolas] Twenty years of football. It was time.
[in French] There you go!
[Nicolas] I had the opportunity to continue playing,
but it would have meant leaving again, being away from my family.
I just reached a point where I said to myself: "I'm happy like this.
[hip-hop]
Life's beautiful. My family's here, my kids are here."
I wanted to see them grow up and live a quiet life.
Nico had always said to me: "The day I stop playing,
I'd like us to go and live in Dubai because I feel good there.
It's sunny. The people are cool."
[chatter]
[Barbara] We love the time when we're at home with our kids,
as a family.
[in French] There you go.
-[Nicolas] It's time. -[Barbara in French] Let's go.
[Nicolas] It's at the end of your career that you look back at things you've done,
and you're either proud
or you think: "I was a victim that got pushed around for 20 years."
And I didn't want to think that myself.
[Nicolas] Didn't want to do that.
[melancholy music]
[hip-hop]
[Nicolas] My parents were civil servants.
Mum worked at Rambouillet High School, Dad for the Board of Education.
We didn't have it very hard, but we weren't well off either.
My parents had to work hard, but... honestly, I had a wonderful childhood.
I'm proud to be from the suburbs.
We all lived together. Outside, inside.
There was school, too. Films, music. There were football games.
[Nicolas] We were so close.
I'd pick him up and we'd walk to school together. We were both in the same year.
[soft music]
[Nicolas] Here's the promenade.
That's it, there.
[Omar] It was a stretch of grass where there was always games going on.
It was our Parc des Princes.
[Sami] I remember nights when the promenade was frozen.
We'd say: "That's enough. Come on, we're going home."
You couldn't play on it. It was unplayable, but he kept going.
[Sami] He wanted to play and play.
[Omar] On the promenade, big kids played, little kids played.
And Nico played with everyone.
NICOLAS ANELKA PLAYS FOR TRAPPES FC.
[Nicolas] I started football when I was eight.
-[shouting] -I was with Karim and Sami.
We were walking home when I said: "I don't wanna be just a footballer."
I wanna be a star.
[chatter]
[Karim D.] It was excessive. It was too much.
He even dressed up for carnival as a footballer.
You see what I mean?
So, I say: "You got to come back in a costume. You got to open up."
No. Footballer.
I couldn't show up as Zorro.
I wanted to follow in the footsteps of my big brother, Claude.
He was my role model: I followed his lead
and I really wanted to do what he'd done at my age.
I don't know if his love of football came from me,
but what I wanted to do was allow him to progress,
to evolve as a player, a very good player.
He really wanted it, had talent, but he didn't get the break that I got,
being able to try out at Clairefontaine.
[silence]
[Nicolas] I left home at 13.
You're ten, nearly 11.
Let's say, in two and a half years, you leave home.
You don't sleep here anymore.
[Nicolas] I left for Clairefontaine.
-Who did you live with? -I lived in a... [he laughs]
It was a training centre. Just a building.
There were lots of other 13-year-olds, who were with me.
[ominous music]
[Nicolas] The INF was top-notch.
Back then, it was the number-one football academy.
You'd have maybe 500 lads who wanna get a place there.
If you're one of the 23 chosen, you've got talent.
[woman in French] Come on!
[Olivier] They put 20 kids in there.
They tell them they're going to be professional football players.
Except that out of those 20, there are maybe one, two or three.
So, you're already on the job market.
When you're in a training centre, sorry to say it, but it's war.
[Robert] The competition is ruthless,
so you've got to beat your mates who want the same thing you do.
If you're not ready for that when you're 14, 15, 16...
then you can't... you can't make it.
[cheering]
[woman in French] Go help him... Yes!
[applause]
I was in my second year, he was starting his first at Clairefontaine.
[Thierry] When you eat in the cafeteria, everyone's talking.
"That young guy in the first year, he's good!"
[Thierry] Nico was so advanced I didn't see him as a little brother,
and he didn't see me as a big brother.
It was more like we tried to compete against each other.
[Thierry] He was the most talented one.
The most talented. He had a gift.
[Thierry] Hey! Careful...
You've got to be up to the challenge. That's hard when you're 13.
[cheering]
What impressed me was the transformation:
not seeing him anymore, then seeing him come back.
We saw him grow up, turn into a top athlete.
AT 16, NICOLAS ANELKA JOINS PSG'S PRO SQUAD.
[Nicolas] While I was playing on the reserves,
I joined in with the pros.
I wasn't pro, but I often trained with them.
There was George Weah, Ginola, Bravo, Bernard Lama...
PSG greats.
[Joachim] He got into a club that won the European Cup.
Often, young players like him are sent out to toughen up a bit in second-rate clubs,
but in his case,
he immediately got into a top-notch European club.
[Nicolas] I still didn't know football at that level. You learn on the job.
I got a lot of help from Samir Amirèche.
He practised with the pros like he would practise with his mates outside his house.
He was relaxed,
but he had a gift for intercepting and running with the ball.
[Nicolas] When you play with the pros, you go for it.
It's motivating, at each other's throats.
They're 23, 24, 25, 26, 27. Up against the big boys.
If you want to succeed,
you should never think that some guy is better than you.
[Nicolas] But sometimes, I hear young lads saying:
"That guy, he's amazing! He's too good!"
I always think they're crazy.
They'll never make it if they think like that.
Never in my life would I say: "That guy is better than me."
Even if he is. It's impossible.
[commentator] With 20 minutes to go, Anelka is sent on to replace Loko.
So, why should we pay attention to him?
Because PSG says he's tomorrow's big star.
There's lots of pressure when you're with the pros. Everyone's watching.
All your mates are watching.
[cheering]
[crowd roars]
[Karim D.] My kid's 16.
Same age Nico got on the pitch at Parc des Princes.
Hit like a bomb. We were so proud.
1ST PROFESSIONAL GOAL
[Didier D.] At the time, he's the new talent at PSG.
I'm watching in admiration.
I see this guy who's sharp, fast, agile.
[cheering]
[Omar] What struck me, personally,
was to see my mate actually playing at pro level.
He's playing with the old pros... and he's right at their level.
[crowd roars]
A player like that,
who bursts onto the scene and has that maturity so young...
Obviously, the football world is talking about him.
[upbeat music]
I sent my recruiters to see him play.
He was like players who switch between the juniors and pros.
Maybe he didn't feel like he was fully appreciated.
He was disappointed.
I brought him in for the first time and I said:
"Do you want to come to Arsenal?" He said to me: "Yes."
Football and the Anelka affair.
[journalist 1] This is the 17-year-old who is shaking up French football.
[journalist 2] He's just signed with the English club Arsenal.
[journalist 1] Without knowing it, Anelka's in the middle of a legal battle.
[journalist 2] Under French football regulations, the 17-year-old player
has to sign his first contract with the club that trained him, PSG,
but the player's inner circle and Arsenal contend
that the Bosman ruling on free movement of players in Europe
exempts them from that obligation.
We were a little bit worried because we were the first ones to...
I guess you could say defy the French football system.
[journalist 2] French football is sticking together.
Its entire training policy is at stake.
The case is being resolved by the League and UEFA,
which means that the Anelka affair won't happen twice.
We've got to quickly get this in hand and find the laws and legislative means
to keep junior players at least until they're 22 or 23.
[Selim] Paris wasn't letting him play.
He said: "I deserve to play. I'm qualified to play."
He's the first player actually who, at a certain point,
knew when to tell PSG to go to hell.
[Karim N.] It's all anyone was talking about.
The star who embodied PSG's youth was walking out.
But you had to realise something. He symbolised the Bosman ruling.
That's the free movement of players and individuals.
He opened the door for all kids at all training centres.
So, yes, they made him pay.
He was the first to say: "I do what I want and I play by European rules."
[Nicolas] In my head, I'm already at Arsenal. Especially as I just signed.
I definitely wanted to leave PSG. That's for sure.
ANELKA LEAVES FOR ARSENAL
Only real geniuses believe in themselves. It's like Van Gogh.
[Karim N.] If a genius doesn't believe in himself, he can't express his art.
And that leads to an attitude that can seem arrogant
because you're going to impose your art.
Individuals like Thierry Henry,
they were raised in such a way that they were never satisfied.
It also shows strength of character to be like: "OK, so you're leaving me out?
Well, then, look what I'm going to do. I'm capable of leaving for England.
I'm young, but it doesn't scare me."
I was gonna be on equal footing with the other strikers...
so I went for it.
LONDON ENGLAND
[journalist] After lengthy negotiations, 17-year-old Nicolas Anelka
transferred last night to English club Arsenal.
[Nicolas] I remember I took the Eurostar.
It wasn't easy, it was...
But it's the choice I made. I had to own it.
I made the choice to come to England and I couldn't go back.
Well, when he arrived at Arsenal,
he was with a very charismatic group of players,
whether it was the old-school like Ian Wright, Ray Parlour and Tony Adams.
This is the Arsenal, this is one of, you know,
the founding, driving forces of the game,
woven into the tapestry of English football,
with fans who are just totally passionate, who live all around the ground,
who live all over the world.
[ominous music]
The beginning wasn't easy
because keep in mind he's a real Parisian kid,
suddenly thrown headlong into the English world.
[Nicolas] Everything was new: new teammates, new language...
But luckily, Pat was there at the time. Pat Vieira.
He didn't have his driver's licence back then, so I'd go and pick him up.
We'd go to practice together. Afterwards, I'd drop him off at home.
I tried to become friends with him
because when you leave France to go play in a foreign country,
you feel a little disorientated.
[Nicolas] It's a different kind of football from what we had in France.
A lot of commitment, a lot of contact.
So, I had to adapt. I had to change up my game.
I wasn't ready for battle yet.
So, I had to go and train with the reserves.
[Arsène] He came in with the idea that he was a great player.
That's common when you're young.
But for me, he lacked maturity, physically.
He lost the ball too much. He was a little careless in his game.
[Nicolas] I don't play much at first. Just 10-15 minutes in a few games.
Not great.
You wonder if you made the right choice or not.
DERBY ENGLAND
[Nicolas] The last match of the championship
was an away game at Derby County.
Everyone was sitting in the bus. No Nicolas Anelka.
[Nicolas] Coach is waiting for me. Comes to get me.
I knock on the door, he lets me in and I see he's packing his bags.
I say: "What are you doing?" He says to me...
I don't wanna come.
[ominous music]
The coach talks to me and says:
"Make an effort. You'll see, it will pay off."
And after 20 minutes, half hour, I manage to convince him.
[chanting]
[Nicolas] The match starts.
After five or ten minutes of play, Paul Merson gets injured.
[Nicolas] So, the coach turns to me and says: "Go on, get in there."
[cheering and chanting]
-[commentator] Bergkamp. -[Nicolas] I set up two goals.
[commentator] Lovely little touch. Ball through.
-And that's gonna be number three! -[cheering]
He played a fantastic game.
[Nicolas] I ended up Man of the Match.
We win the game,
he takes his shower and, unlike the day before, he's smiling.
That's when everything clicked.
[Nicolas] You need that when you're a striker, even if you're strong.
You need to feel the coach is there for you when things are tough.
That he'll be there and put you back on again,
even if you're mediocre in the last match.
[Nicolas] I felt Arsène was there for me.
Knowing that, you give it your all and usually you succeed
because, mentally, it changes things.
-[commentator] Anelka... -[cheering]
Oh, what a goal! Nicolas Anelka's first for the club!
Anelka against Jaap Stam...
-Still Anelka! Three-nil! -[cheering]
He was replacing, um, Ian Wright,
who is embedded not simply in the fabric of Arsenal football club,
but in the hearts of every Arsenal fan.
[cheering]
[commentator] Anelka... Oh, that's a great goal!
We were 13 points behind Manchester United.
No one thought we'd be able to pull it back.
[commentator] Petit... Batty trying to stem the flow...
Nicolas Anelka and he's done it!
He went through a transformation in six months that was incredible.
[Emmanuel] It was at Blackburn.
He gets in front of the keeper,
he does that famous fake shot where he almost bends his back knee.
And then he does a step over. The keeper is stunned.
You get the feeling the keeper was invisible.
He's like a cat.
[Arsène] The guy had strength as well as flexibility.
[commentator] It's still Anelka.
I'll never forget the match against Manchester.
[commentator] Arsenal arrive here with a record of just one defeat
in 18 games in all competitions.
[Nicolas] It was a close game. We had to win.
I head the ball in front of Marc Overmars.
-[commentator] Oh, it's Overmars! -[cheering]
He's done it this time!
We beat Manchester 1-0 in Manchester.
[commentator] The championship race still very much open.
The situation ended driving Arsenal back into it
against a very good Manchester United side
purely because of his self-belief, because he just didn't feel pressure.
[cheering]
[Nicolas] The crowning glory was the match at Highbury.
[commentator] Adams!
[Nicolas] Tony Adams scores the winning goal.
-[commentator] Would you believe it? -[crowd roars]
[commentator] Final whistle!
-[epic music] -[commentator] Arsenal are the champions!
It was something special.
But the truth is, when you're 19, you don't understand.
Fully understand what's going on.
The classic double is to win the League and to win the Cup.
For an English fan, for an English player,
for anyone growing up with any understanding of English sport,
that is the bar, that is absolutely the pinnacle.
[epic music]
FA CUP FINAL
[commentator] Vieira...
Anelka... Onside...
Anelka's away... Good strike!
[crowd roars]
[epic music]
[cheering]
[Nicolas] We were champions. I scored in the Cup Final.
It was the ultimate dream.
I felt I had a good chance of playing in the World Cup.
[cheering]
Six too many. We were expecting 22 players.
Aimé Jacquet announced
a list of 28 names for the World Cup in early June.
[newscaster] He's gonna have to cut it back.
FRANCE HOSTS THE 1998 WORLD CUP.
NICOLAS ANELKA IS ONE OF THE 28 PLAYERS SHORTLISTED,
BUT MANAGER AIMÉ JACQUET STILL HAS TO CUT 6.
We knew that there'd be players who'd be out of selection
because Aimé had said so.
He'd announced it.
He'd selected six extra players,
but at some point, he had to make a final list.
[journalist] Jacquet experienced one of the longest days of his life.
When practice was over, he paced the pitch alone.
But not entirely.
Facing him, over 20 players awaited his decision.
It's great at the age of 19 to be on the French team,
but I'd be disappointed to miss out on an event like the World Cup.
It was an honour to wear the France shirt, yeah.
But there was always a "but".
I could tell that something wasn't quite right.
[birds chirping]
[Nicolas] The day the list went up, I was with Thierry.
The phone rings and they ask me to come down.
So, I go downstairs, get to the coach's room.
I was the second or third one there. We were lined up.
He explains to each one why.
Why he hadn't picked them
and why they won't be part of the World Cup.
And when he gets to me, he says: "You, it's normal."
"You, it's normal."
Then he moves on.
Of course, it's a harsh decision. It's even very cruel.
But we live in a cruel world.
I don't know if those guys realise the significance of that,
how it feels, how it can mess up a kid's head when you say to him:
"You, it's normal" with no explanation.
If you're mentally weak, it could kill your career.
At Clairefontaine,
there's a ping-pong table and we were playing.
[Robert] Across from it, there's the staircase,
and I see Nico come down with his bags.
And he was totally... yeah, totally relaxed. Cool.
He says to me: "Oh, no big deal.
This way, I'll have time to get my driver's licence."
And at the time, I thought to myself: "This guy is crazy!"
[Robert laughs] Actually, his reaction stunned me.
And I thought: "Nico Anelka is totally different from everybody else,
and he's different from me."
I saw them leave. Some of them were crying, tears in their eyes.
Imagine, a month and a half later, we're on top of the world
and those guys are in front of the TV saying:
"I probably missed the most important day of my life".
-[cheering] -[commentator] France is world champion!
[journalist] A historic night...
"Historic" is truly the most understated term to sum up
what's been happening since last night in France.
[crowd chants] Zidane! Zidane!
ZIDANE FOR PRESIDENT
[journalist] More than a million people last night on the Champs-Élysées.
A mad wave of ecstasy for the people of France.
[cheering]
[air horn]
[crowd roars]
It made me stronger because when there's an injustice...
you tell yourself you've got to get over it.
And you've got to work twice as hard to come back
because they're world champions and you don't change a winning team.
8 MONTHS LATER, NICOLAS ANELKA SCORES TWO HISTORIC GOALS FOR FRANCE.
LONDON ENGLAND
[commentator in French] Thuram crosses the halfway line. Passes to Zidane.
Zidane controls the ball, passes to Anelka... Anelka! Goal!
Nicolas Anelka, the Arsenal player, opens the score!
[commentator] Nicolas Anelka becomes the first Frenchman
to score against England at Wembley.
[commentator in French] Zidane to Dugarry. Dugarry in the penalty area.
Christophe Dugarry crosses forward, and second goal!
Second goal by Nicolas Anelka here at Wembley. France lead 2-0.
It's historic. It's doubly historic!
[epic music]
Very good. Perfect.
He has a lot of talent. He showed that again tonight.
So, I hope that continues for the French team and for him, too.
All of a sudden, this player shows up in the game
and makes a connection with Zidane, who's like a god on earth,
so everyone says:
"Wow! We're on our way to five or six more years of triumph."
"SON OF TRAPPES... AND KING OF ENGLAND"
I would have preferred to have been part of the team that won the World Cup,
but it is what it is, it's life.
Something you have to get over, and I did.
DUBAI UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
[soft music]
[Nicolas] What I've done in my life and what I've done in football,
that's all well and good.
The most important thing is my family.
-[in French] Which one is it? -[in French] Which one is what?
[Nicolas] I'm lucky to have parents who taught me values,
so I'm trying to do the same,
to pass on what I was taught to my children.
-[seagulls shrieking] -[Nicolas] Let's see if we can play.
They haven't seen me play very much.
I didn't take them to matches very often. I didn't want to force them.
Watch. Like this... Stop.
[Nicolas] That's it! Again.
[Nicolas] I didn't want them to be footballers: it's a tough profession
and you've got to have talent.
[shouting]
They both play football. Kais, a little more seriously.
Kahil, more for fun.
[Barbara] He loves to take them to practice, wait for them,
go to matches.
[shouting]
[final whistle]
[silence]
[Nicolas] Learn your technique. I saw zero technique at training.
Zero.
You play like you train.
If you suck when you train, you'll suck in the match.
That's it.
If you don't work outside of training, don't do anything more,
then you're gonna suck, be no good.
That's all.
Don't just say: "I wanna be a footballer." Footballers are real players.
[Nicolas] It's a tough job.
MADRID SPAIN
[journalist 1] Anelka expressed his desire
to leave the Premier League.
[journalist 2] Topping today's sports news,
French striker Anelka transfers to Real Madrid.
He was courted by Real Madrid.
Juventus was also very interested.
They didn't want to sell me. I'd done two and a half years at Arsenal.
I'd scored a certain number of goals.
It was now time for me to join a better club.
[journalist] Lazio in Rome offers 200 million francs and Juventus 300,
but negotiations fall through.
Anelka's advisers may have been too greedy.
He got a lot of criticism for taking the advice of his brothers.
I don't know what they were like,
whether they were motivated by materialistic things
or whether they said to him: "What is best for your development?"
[Nicolas] One of my brothers was able to manage my finances,
as he was an accountant.
My other brother played for PFC, a third-division club at the time.
So, why would I ask someone else, a stranger, to handle my career?
It's funny.
When people come from the streets, it's called a clan, even a sect.
But when it's other people who don't come from the street, it's "family".
Why a clan?
Because maybe at the time, when Nicolas wanted to leave PSG,
we pushed hard for it, so people talked about a clan.
[Didier A.] A pretty tight-knit clan, pretty tough.
Well, that's what made us strong.
[Karim N.] They symbolised the future of football.
The Anelka family ran a grocery store, managed their own business,
and right next door, all around them, big supermarkets were gorging themselves.
[Karim N.] People said the Anelka brothers are manipulating him.
At 20, Anelka was making his own decisions.
He decides to leave for England because he's not playing in Paris.
He decides to leave Arsenal when his brothers ask him to stay.
Real Madrid is one of the best clubs in the world,
and when Real Madrid want you, it's not about the money.
Because Real, at the time, with seven or eight Champions League titles,
was already number one.
[commotion and camera flashes]
[Nicolas] Madrid was crazy. A lot of press, a lot of fans.
It's Real Madrid's most expensive transfer.
[L. Sanz] We hope in this way to secure Real Madrid's future.
220 million francs was the biggest transfer of all time then.
[Karim N.] It's Mbappé and Neymar combined.
I never imagined there'd be so many people here for me.
But I'm delighted by your welcome.
[Nicolas] I understood what it meant to be a star when I joined Real Madrid.
And I hated it.
[journalist 1] Anelka had his first training session
and met his new teammates.
[journalist 2] The player stirred up passion in a packed Ciudad Deportiva.
[Nicolas] After the press conference, I go to the changing room.
Get there first, sit down.
Every player that came in made me move, saying:
"That's my place." "Ah, sorry. Over here good?"
"Yeah, sit there."
Then another would come in: "That's my place." Maybe 20 like that.
[Karim N.] He barely got someone to loan him a strip for his first practice.
Imagine if Neymar showed up at PSG and there was nothing for him to wear.
Back then, it was dog eat dog.
[applause and cheering]
[Nicolas] I thought: "What am I doing here?
It's gonna be hostile."
What I went through that day was just the start of the nightmare.
[ominous music]
[journalist 1] One of today's big stories...
[journalist 2] Everyone is eager to see Anelka's debut.
For football's sake, he'd better not disappoint.
[cheering and whistling]
[Nicolas] Pressure, right from the start.
[ominous music]
[Nicolas] I saw it because my name appeared in the Spanish press every day.
Photos of me.
[journalist 1] An unmemorable debut for La Liga's most expensive player.
[journalist 2] Eighteen goals for Arsenal last year, and nothing yet in La Liga.
[Nicolas] On the pitch, it wasn't happening.
And that was because I had no privacy. Couldn't do anything.
You're 20, can't walk down the street.
[shouting]
[Nicolas] Everything you do gets talked about.
Everything you buy is in the papers the next day.
The place where he lived,
we had to put barriers up because journalists could film even from outside.
[Marguerite] It was horrible for everybody.
He locked himself in his house. We had to do that, too.
[Marguerite] Kept the curtains closed all day long.
It was intolerable.
I even had an anxiety attack, which I've never had before.
I mean, screaming, shouting like a maniac.
At one point, I even thought he was going to leave and quit football.
"ANELKA IS DEPRESSED"
"ANELKA IS SUFFERING" "IS ANELKA A FRAUD?"
[Nicolas] When you're at Real Madrid, they expect a lot.
The press ask you to be open, but I wouldn't open up.
And maybe that handicap was a significant problem
because I wasn't really accepted as part of the team.
I was very average on the pitch.
The press were against me.
MADRID SPAIN - MARCA OFFICES
I was invited to MARCA's offices.
When I go, it's kind of a favour because I didn't usually talk to them.
[Karim N.] For the photo, the journalist says: "Will you do a FIFA game?"
[Nicolas] I play the game and I score. Against Atlético, I think.
In next day's newspaper, it's: "Nicolas Anelka has finally scored a goal...
in a video game."
"HIS FIRST DERBY... HIS FIRST GOAL"
Those were the tricks of the press I didn't pick up on.
Looking back, I screwed up,
but at the time, I really didn't think that they'd be as vicious as that.
After that, I think: "OK, fine. That's how it is.
I give you something, and usually I don't give anything,
but I come, I take a step in your direction,
and you... you slap me in the face.
No problem. You get nothing."
[upbeat music]
BRAZIL CLUB WORLD CUP
5 MONTHS AFTER HIS ARRIVAL,
NICOLAS ANELKA STILL HASN'T SCORED FOR REAL MADRID.
Going to Brazil for the Club World Cup,
away from all that pressure and the media,
pretty much incognito, that gave me a second wind.
[crowd roars]
[indistinct Portuguese commentary]
In a country like Brazil,
being joint top scorer with a legend like Romário,
I'll take that any day.
[Nicolas] When you're a number nine, you need to compete.
You need people to have faith in you...
so you can give your best.
MADRID SPAIN
[journalist] This week, it's the Barça-Real Madrid match.
An event always described as the match of all matches.
[cheering]
[commentator in Spanish] Shoot!
-Morientes now. Madrid could score... -[crowd roars]
Goal from Anelka!
[Nicolas] I scored. I was so happy.
[commentator in Spanish] An important goal for the club in white!
[Nicolas] Next game, I was average.
After that, I'm on the bench.
I turn up one day for training and I say: "We've got to talk."
And they tell me: "We'll talk after training."
I said: "No, no, we talk before."
But they made it clear: "We'll talk after."
[Nicolas] I took the way they reacted badly.
I thought: "Fine. You've got a bad attitude.
I'll have a bad attitude, too."
I went to war with them, but truth was, I just wanted to talk.
I had this real street kid mentality and I wouldn't submit.
[Nicolas] OK. Clash.
An astonishing statement from Madrid player Nicolas Anelka.
The French player, without any warning...
[male journalist] ...refused to train with his teammates.
[Nicolas] I miss training, get called in by one of the presidents.
We talk, talk, talk and he says to me: "Tomorrow, you better turn up."
And I say: "Wait for me tomorrow. You'll see."
[journalist] He refused to train yesterday.
He was supposed to be at Ciudad Deportiva at 11 a.m. today.
Instead, he gave an interview to French television
and played football in his garden, as you can see here.
Lorenzo Sanz and Real Madrid face a serious problem.
Again, they created a drama around me, when all I wanted,
all I was asking for,
was to be left alone to focus on my football,
so that I could actually try to prove that I was talented
and that I could play for Real.
Every time there was a power struggle, he was inevitably on the wrong side.
The dark side.
[Karim N.] He goes on strike.
He says: "No, I'm not training. I want you to explain."
Instead of explaining, they say: "Do your training. We'll decide later."
And then he famously said: "Well, I'd rather go sell TVs at Darty."
I admire him for that.
The person he is, before the athlete.
And there's this thing he used to say a lot that made me laugh.
He'd say: "I'm a guy from Trappes."
[hip-hop]
NICOLAS ANELKA IS SUSPENDED FOR 45 DAYS AND FINED 350,000 EUROS.
HE USES THIS TIME TO GO HOME TO TRAPPES.
It's been a while since I've seen Paris.
[Nicolas] I'm happy to be back.
See family and friends, have a few laughs.
[revving]
[Arsène] He's a straightforward guy.
Who's honest.
Who's faithful.
And who has loyalty. Real loyalty.
Who can be excessive sometimes because he's impulsive,
like all guys who hold in what's troubling them.
And when they blow up, they often go beyond what they mean to say.
And they often get labelled as excessive.
AFTER APOLOGISING, NICOLAS ANELKA RESUMES TRAINING.
[Nicolas] When I go back to training, it's tough, really tough,
because the players were against me.
A lot of them were out to get me, but I'd been in England.
I knew how to be physical.
And there were lots of little fights and duels out on the pitch,
but after a while, everything got back to normal.
MADRID SPAIN
[journalist 1] A big Champions League game.
[journalist 2] Bayern Munich will face Real.
[Nicolas] Semi-finals are special. Everyone's watching.
You can change everything, turn the tide.
[indistinct Spanish commentary]
[commentator in Spanish] The ball into Anelka, he's in the right place
and Real Madrid has scored!
[cheering]
Huge satisfaction because I was picked for the Champions League, too.
He's decisive against Bayern in the first leg as well as the second
in horrible conditions because, two months earlier,
everyone had him in the cellar at Real.
[crowd roars]
"MWAH"
[whistle]
"ANELKA'S BIG NIGHT"
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL
[commentator in Spanish] Welcome to the Spanish football party in Paris!
The Champions League final!
Nicolas Anelka with the ball...
Anelka again passing behind...
The ball for Michel and now Morientes! Goal, goal, goal, goal, goal!
[cheering]
It's almost over. Real Madrid will be European champions!
The 24th May 2000!
A historic day for Madrid. That's it! It's over!
[journalist] Nicolas Anelka's name was chanted by Real Madrid socios
when he came off the pitch and at the award ceremony.
[cheering]
[commentator in Spanish] Now we can truly say that Madrid holds "La Octava"!
[Nicolas] I helped them win their eighth Champions League title.
I'm proud of that.
Considering Real was hardly a piece of cake at the start,
beyond football, there was something personal in it for him.
A sweet revenge.
I didn't do much. Very little at Real Madrid.
I wanted to do more, but I didn't get the chance.
I wasn't great. There were a lot of things going on, though.
[Nicolas] I have many regrets.
Looking back, I wanted to play for Real,
but there sacrifices to be made, and I was too young to understand.
There were things I shouldn't have said or done.
But when you're the first to do things, you don't know.
[melancholy music]
[Nicolas] It was early in my career. Very early. Maybe too early.
I didn't appreciate the moment for what it was.
I didn't know it was the only one I'd win, for example.
I think it's at 30 you really take stock.
You understand what it means.
You know it's hard. You know it's a cup that everyone wants to win.
The way you savour it is different from when you're 20.
Don't know what this is.
I know what this is, though.
It's a bit rusty.
Yeah.
The Champions League? Here.
Real Madrid. 2000-2001, I think.
[Younouss] Nice try. 1999-2000.
-Is that it? 1999-2000? -[Younouss] Yeah.
-Yeah, it's... -I won it 2002-2004.
-Two. Two years in a row. -[both laugh]
[soft music]
IN JUNE 2000, NICOLAS ANELKA PLAYS HIS FIRST BIG COMPETITION WITH FRANCE:
THE EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP.
I'd just won the Champions League.
I was happy to be back in the French squad, too.
FRANCE-DENMARK 11-06-2000
1998, we won at home. We're world champions.
It's all well and good to win a World Cup at home, but you've got to follow through.
And here come two kids from the outskirts of Paris and Clairefontaine
who are playing up front with the French team.
[commentator] And the ball into Anelka here who'll check and turn...
And it's an equaliser scored by Thierry Henry!
[Nicolas] When I got there, I wasn't in shape.
I wasn't up to it physically to play match after match.
He plays a lot of games, but he doesn't play in the final,
and people will remember Pirès and Wiltord,
who at the time were substitutes.
ROTTERDAM NETHERLANDS
[journalist 1] Kick-off at the European Championships final.
[journalist 2] France head-to-head with Italy.
[commentator] Double contact. Pirès passes to Trezeguet who strikes!
-Yeah! Trezeguet! -[crowd roars]
Golden goal! Golden goal!
[commentator screams] Phenomenal!
[cheering]
When you talk about Euro 2000, that's the top.
[cheering and chanting]
I don't wanna be arrogant, but nobody could beat us.
[cheering and applause]
[Nicolas] It feels good when you're playing well.
When you suck or you're not so great...
I'm a footballer.
I'm not there to screw around.
I was there to perform well on the pitch. That wasn't the case.
[Nicolas] I participated, but I didn't contribute.
If I could remove that title from my list, I definitely would.
That means that winning at all costs has no meaning for him. It's how you win.
He's incapable of pretending he's happy, even if he's not or...
He is who he is. He's himself. And I'm totally the opposite.
I can give you a big smile, even if I'm sad.
[soft music]
[whirring]
I met him fairly young. He was 19 years old.
I'm older than him. I was 21.
[Barbara] We were young.
He was well into his football and I was totally into my dancing.
[French rap]
It was back when there was the big Arsenal-Madrid transfer,
so for me it was a little...
I didn't really understand what was going on.
[Barbara] I showed up at his place to see him.
There were lots of journalists outside.
[Nicolas] Today, we've been together over ten years.
It's important to be close friends with your wife.
If you wanna live pretty much your whole life together,
if you don't already have that close bond of friendship and love,
it won't work.
I think that's the basis for any couple.
[waves lapping]
[Nicolas] Yes!
Yeah, that's good. That's good. Our turn. Yes. Yes!
We know that he doesn't know how to return the ball. We know it.
We've got to go for him. Weak point. Weak point!
-[man] Watch out. -[Nicolas] Place your foot like this.
[Nicolas] Go for it. Go. Play with that. That's it.
[Nicolas] I didn't imagine this.
I'm moving forward, we're growing,
we have a family, a family life kids are growing up...
[Nicolas] Good one! Let it go!
There you go. We've matured.
[soft music]
[waves lapping]
[Nicolas] Children are something special.
It changes your life.
You're not living for yourself, you live for them.
Give me a little kiss?
With some sand?
Mwaaah!
Saying "I love you" every day is a joy.
I don't want them to forget that.
I want them to be able to say "I love you, too" when they're grown-up.
You OK?
Because with my own parents, for example, you know, I had...
I had, well... We found it hard saying "I love you" to each other.
My dad and my mum, you know. So, me... I wanted to...
I think it, but it's hard to get it out, actually.
You know, it's difficult.
[waves lapping]
[Nicolas] Maybe it was missing since I was small.
And...
that's why.
Because of that, I wanted to do things...
differently.
I wanted to show my kids what I felt and what I thought, you know.
So that they won't be embarrassed or find it hard telling me.
And I hope that they, too, when they have children,
I hope for their sake,
they'll do the same thing
because it's beautiful when you can tell your child that you love them
and they say, "I love you, too."
I think nothing's more beautiful.
[Barbara] Aw...
NICOLAS ANELKA LEAVES REAL MADRID IN 2000 AND RETURNS TO PSG FOR 35 MILLION EUROS,
THE BIGGEST FRENCH TRANSFER AT THE TIME.
AFTER A COMPLICATED SEASON AND A HALF, HE JOINS LIVERPOOL IN ENGLAND.
LIVERPOOL ENGLAND
[journalist] Nicolas Anelka triumphs in the British media
on his arrival at Liverpool.
Liverpool, a historic club, city of the Beatles...
[Arnaud] It wasn't that beautiful, but it exudes a unique atmosphere.
[chanting]
And managed by a French coach, Gérard Houllier.
[commentator] Heskey lets it run to Murphy... Anelka!
-[crowd roars] -Liverpool are level!
He got to Liverpool. He said: "Shit, Doug, I've found a shoe that fits."
Everything was perfect: the city, the spirit...
The fans were really happy. I was thrilled to be there.
-[commentator] Nicolas Anelka! Yes! -[crowd roars]
[Nicolas] English football is wonderful. It's made for me. I felt alive again.
[commentator] Michael Owen, looking for Anelka again...
[Nicolas] It showed in my game. Off the pitch, I could live normally.
[commentator] Number five!
It was the perfect club for me. The club with whom I could bounce back.
[cheering]
But we get to the end of the season...
I had nothing.
No contract to sign with Liverpool.
I'm playing well, so other teams are interested in me.
[journalist] Another disillusionment for Nicolas Anelka.
Gérard Houllier, the manager in Liverpool,
has decided not to keep Nicolas Anelka next season.
I didn't like that, when he was in Liverpool
with a purchase option to play with us,
that his brothers had tried to contact other clubs to sell him.
I didn't like that. I thought that wasn't fair play.
That open door, it was for you. It was for Liverpool.
[Nicolas] And I said it many, many times that I wanted to sign with Liverpool.
I waited, but nothing happened.
[Nicolas] Liverpool fans think I didn't want to stay.
They need to know that that wasn't the case. I really wanted to stay.
And that's why...
that episode was tragic for me because, honestly,
it's a club where I think I could have done a lot.
A lot of things. Great things.
[ominous music]
Things ground to a halt,
but mostly for reasons that have nothing to do with football.
It's more a question of cultural differences.
There are many paradoxes with Nico.
A modesty that can be seen as cold-heartedness.
Certain people see it as arrogance.
He's got a character made of steel, an extremely strong character,
especially when it comes to imposing
or demanding respect for his own opinions.
That can lead to a clash, actually, with collective thinking
or even with certain forms of hierarchy and power.
MANCHESTER ENGLAND
[journalist] Football. Nicolas Anelka's value just keeps falling.
PSG is in talks with two clubs in Manchester
for a transfer estimated at less than 20 million euros.
[Nicolas] Despite my good results and performing well with Liverpool,
they weren't interested.
All doors closed. I sign with Manchester City.
I thought: "You're here. No one else wanted you. Go for it."
-[cheering] -[indistinct commentary]
[commentator] Fowler... Wright-Phillips... Nicolas Anelka!
-Manchester City have won it! -[crowd roars]
Rejected by Gérard Houllier, this is Nicolas Anelka's response!
I scored goals. I was good. I got to know Kevin Keegan, the coach.
We got on well. I progressed.
[Nicolas] You play with lower-level players, you've got to score goals.
You've got to do things so that people see you, for them to sit up and say:
"He doesn't belong in a team like that."
The problem with Nicolas Anelka
is the same with all kids who succeed very early on.
When you're a star at 18, 19, 20,
you can be satisfied by too little.
Maybe he was also in environments that discouraged him.
That said, he had a great career. Let's be fair.
But if you ask me, deep in my heart: "Was there more to him than that?"
I'll tell you with no hesitation: "Yes."
NICOLAS ANELKA IS NOT CALLED UP FOR THE 2002 WORLD CUP.
A FEW MONTHS LATER,
NEW MANAGER JACQUES SANTINI COMES TO MEET HIM AT MANCHESTER CITY.
[Nicolas] Once again, there's this extraordinary drama.
At the time, Jacques Santini comes to see me play a game against United.
It's the derby.
[cheering]
[Nicolas] I had a great match. I score. We win 3-1, I think.
[commentator] ...for Manchester City, it comes out to Anelka!
[crowd roars]
Jacques Santini comes to see me in my dressing room
and he talks to me, saying:
"If I don't pick you in the next squad, it's because I don't know you."
Don't come see me, then.
If you don't know me.
I played at PSG,
I played at Arsenal,
I played at Real Madrid,
I played at Liverpool,
and you're saying you don't know me?
Nah. Nah. You have no right to say that to me. I took it badly.
And when he tried to call me back,
I made him understand that he should just leave me alone.
Nicolas Anelka has finally refused to be drafted
by the French football team.
[newscaster] Santini called him back to play against Yugoslavia
on Wednesday at the Stade de France,
but the Manchester City player feels that this selection is a little forced.
[journalist] He said: "He'll have to get down on his knees
for me to come back on the French team."
[newscaster] So, he's given up on his future with the French team.
If he thinks that we don't trust him, and me first of all, well, then,
Nicolas Anelka has made a decision that, if it's confirmed,
well, that's his own business,
not his teammates' or the manager's.
Just when everyone is waiting for him to deny it or eventually apologise,
he doesn't.
Because he's a powerhouse and he stays on course.
[Omar] When he sets out to do something, he does it.
And that, people don't understand.
You've got to understand that Nicolas Anelka, in the eyes of the public,
is a player who had trouble with his coaches.
[Arnaud] He's a controversial man.
And the biggest scandal of his career happened when playing in England
for mid-table club West Bromwich Albion.
BIRMINGHAM ENGLAND
[chanting]
[Nicolas] I'm back with a coach I already knew: Steve Clarke.
It was cool when I was with him in Chelsea, so I thought: "Why not?"
[Nicolas] It's time for the first match. The fans are waiting. It's a home game.
It's 0-0 and after 70 minutes, Steve Clarke takes me off.
I'm kind of the star of the team.
I played in the preseason, scored all the goals.
And when you take me off like that,
what you're actually doing is showing the public that it's 0-0
because the striker did nothing.
So, it's a lack of respect and a lack of trust.
When you're 34 and in the very first game, the coach does that...
I stopped speaking to him.
I thought: "If you're gonna play that game, no problem."
He didn't put me in the team. And what always happens happened.
Try to be clever. Sometimes, you get burnt.
So, five matches, five defeats.
[Nicolas] Bye.
I'm back on the team,
and the first game I play, right after Steve Clarke left...
I score.
[Nicolas] So, I do this celebration.
People don't know it because I never wanted to talk about Steve Clarke,
but when I do the quenelle, it's for him.
[Nicolas] "You were here. You didn't use me.
As soon as you're gone, look: I play and I score.
There.
Stick it you know where."
[journalist 1] In the middle of the game, the footballer mimicked the quenelle,
the gesture used by Dieudonné.
[journalist 2] Gesture of defiance?
Gesture linked to the Nazis?
Anti-Semitic gesture?
I lived in Birmingham. I didn't have French TV.
I had internet, yes, but I didn't see it coming.
Back then, I wasn't aware what was going on.
[journalist] Dieudonné is anti-Semitic. No doubt, says François Hollande.
He supports Manuel Valls.
The minister will do anything to ban the comedian's shows.
ANTI-SEMITISM DIEUDONNÉ'S BUSINESS
A few French journalists I follow said: "He's just done the quenelle."
And West Brom picked up on it.
Their PR people realised it was going to be a huge issue.
[journalist] British people had never heard of Dieudonné
or the quenelle.
The affair is nonetheless making headlines,
with one word recurring again and again: "shocking".
[Nicolas] When they accused me of making an anti-Semitic gesture,
I denied it because it wasn't that.
For me, it wasn't anti-Semitic.
So, I was surprised...
but it's good to call people out.
"OK, then.
Prove it to me."
This was a time in English football when the Football Association
were having to deal with a lot of issues, on-the-pitch issues,
between, uh... racial abuse between players.
The FA had to take action.
[journalist] Sanctions were imposed on Nicolas Anelka yesterday,
a five-match suspension and a fine of 100,000 euros,
as set by the English Football Association.
[Nicolas] We had a two-day hearing.
The verdict:
I am not anti-Semitic, but the gesture is.
I was sanctioned with a five-game ban, with a fine.
We all know why. I had to be sanctioned.
But the fact is that I wasn't guilty.
Not one prior incident with Jewish people.
Why would I think about Jewish people after scoring a goal?
Why?
It's a bit exaggerated to charge him.
It's not at all as if it was made in front of a synagogue
or in front of a memorial concerning the Holocaust.
They said it themselves. I am not anti-Semitic.
So, if I'm not anti-Semitic, that's it, end of story.
[silence]
[regular breathing]
[indistinct encouragements]
[Nicolas] I've always lived my life at full speed. 200%.
I like when people tell me the truth,
and that's not what I got in that environment.
I prefer to be among friends.
There aren't many, but at least you know who's who.
[waves lapping]
[Nicolas] This is my beach.
My grandma lives 100 yards from here.
We'd come down here to have fun, swim,
kick a ball around.
We're from Paris. There wasn't a beach.
It was always special coming back here to see all the cousins,
the whole family,
and having the ocean 100 yards from the house.
-[waves lapping] -[soft music]
[birds chirping]
[Nicolas] It's unoccupied now.
This was the kitchen.
-The gas oven's still here. -[rooster crows]
She made her meals here.
This is my grandma's house.
[rooster crows]
Whenever I came back to Martinique, I always stayed here.
[birds chirping]
[chatter and laughter]
[Nicolas] We had incredible times. When I say "we", I mean family.
Our brothers and my parents and all the cousins who came here.
Times we'll never forget and can't explain.
[chatter and laughter]
[Nicolas] I felt good vibes for my kids, and it made me feel great
because I guess they kind of felt what I felt 20 or 30 years ago.
And I needed them to understand and feel what I experienced.
And also they're... They're Antillean.
[electronic music]
[journalist] Drafted again after three years of absence,
the player from Trappes says he's honoured to be back with Les Bleus.
[Arnaud] It's a fabulous story: Raymond Domenech, who'd been manager for a year,
brings him on board in November 2005 for a symbolic game in Martinique.
A match with Costa Rica.
It's historic because the French team had never played in the Antilles.
[Nicolas] Of course, my parents were in the stands,
so that really put the pressure on.
There was pressure too because Antilleans are harsh, critical.
-[Nicolas] I had to do a good job. -[cheering]
-I wasn't expecting that at all. For sure. -Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, that's true.
We thought it was all over, even me.
I thought with all those problems,
all the disappointments he'd had since the beginning...
Yeah, and all those... all those things he said.
I thought: "They'll never take him back."
[commentator in French] Vieira recovers the ball.
Thierry Henry is onside, passes to Anelka and goal!
-[crowd roars] -France equalise!
Anelka scores a goal for his return three and a half years later.
[Nicolas] It was great. It had been a long time since I'd played for France.
To come back to the Antilles, to score, to see the whole family,
it's really special.
[Arnaud] People thought that Nicolas Anelka played well
and that he'd probably earned the right to come back on the French team for good,
considering that the 2006 World Cup was coming up.
And yet, actually, after 1998, after 2002,
it's a new failure for Nicolas Anelka, who's not called up by the new manager.
[Nicolas] Those are challenges you've got to face. I knew I'd overcome them.
I tried to give it my all out on the pitch, and I wasn't too bad,
despite having a knife at my neck throughout my career.
[silence]
[Nicolas] You think you're doing things from your heart.
Whenever I do something, I try to be discreet. I do it sincerely.
That's how I like to be. How I like to act.
I don't like to talk too much about what I do outside of football.
And I like to be quiet.
I like to go... unnoticed.
Even if it's difficult.
But there's a part of me that believes...
that God is on Earth and He sees what you do.
And you don't need to be judged, even in a positive way.
You don't need to be judged by people.
God knows what you do,
and if you do a good job, you'll be rewarded.
FROM 2004 TO 2008,
NICOLAS ANELKA PLAYS FOR FENERBAHÇE SK THEN BOLTON.
[journalist] Anelka is becoming a seasoned globetrotter.
Six clubs in eight years.
Today, he signed with Fenerbahçe in Turkey.
♪ Anelka! Anelka! ♪
[Thierry] He left for Arsenal when people told him he wouldn't play.
He joined Real. People told him he wouldn't play.
What's he gonna do in Turkey?
[indistinct ecstatic commentary]
All that obsessive devotion to the club and the constant pressure on the club
reminded me a lot of Real.
Honestly, Anelka is a great football player,
but in my view, his mindset is greater than his football.
He always had to prove... that he was tough.
[cheering]
[commentator] Anelka! What a goal!
LONDON ENGLAND
[journalist 1] A great club. That is what Nicolas Anelka is joining today.
[journalist 2] The international French striker leaves Bolton
for Chelsea, staying in England.
A transfer estimated at 21 million euros.
[Nicolas] Chelsea are already champions in England.
They're in the Champions League.
So, when they call me and say: "Chelsea is interested in you",
well, that was that.
I wanted to join the club I'd been looking for.
[man] OK.
[Henry] It didn't have that family and the warmth of Arsenal.
It didn't have the sort of history and the tradition.
It was a very lucrative place of work for a lot of people.
His slightly sort of cold character should have actually suited Chelsea,
and actually, he... he did.
[journalist] Anelka comes in to make up for the departure of Didier Drogba.
I was at the CAN, but I was watching all the games.
I called the other players to see if they were helping him to fit in.
[journalist] The Blues desperately needed a great striker, and with Anelka,
Chelsea has found exactly what they hoped for.
As for Anelka, he can express himself in the Premier League
and above all, the Champions League.
MOSCOW RUSSIA
[journalist] One of this year's matches fans don't want to miss,
the Champions League Final tonight in Moscow
between two English clubs: Manchester United and Chelsea.
Against Manchester, we had one of the best teams in the world at the time.
Chelsea desperately wanted it.
Manchester United fans, in their tens of thousands, desperately wanted it.
-[cheering] -[commentator] One-one.
-It goes to penalties. -[whistle]
It was an absolutely huge moment.
You had some of the top players in the world on the pitch.
[Henry] You had Rooney, Carrick, Ronaldo...
-[commentator] The world is watching. -[whistle]
Shimmy... and Čech has saved from Ronaldo of all people!
I'm there praying.
-[ominous music] -[cheering]
[whistle]
I see John miss his penalty, and when that happens,
I say: "Yeah, that's a bad sign."
[Nicolas] John misses. He could have nailed it, ended it right there.
The game went on. Our defeat came later.
[commentator] He didn't look happy coming forward.
When he goes up to kick, I can tell he's a little tense.
I can feel it. I can tell he's tense.
-[ominous music] -[whistle]
[crowd roars]
[Nicolas] When I miss, the game's over. I seal the club's fate.
In the owner's home country.
That hurt. That really hurt.
Unfortunately, when you're a competitor,
you always remember the games you lost and the finals you lost.
And it stays with you. It marks you for life.
The fact I missed that penalty made me feel like a traitor.
Because I had no business being there, really.
I came in mid-season, and missing that penalty killed me.
And it killed my career at Chelsea, too.
Even if after that, I did some good things.
I can't get over it. I still can't.
That's the real Nico.
That's the Nico you can sense when you're out there every day with him.
[Didier D.] People on the outside don't know what he's really like.
It hurts. It will hurt till the end.
[cheering]
[crowd roars]
[Didier D.] That defeat created a bond between us all.
That brought us together.
[crowd roars]
He came back a lot stronger.
[commentator] Anelka is on the end of it.
[ominous music]
[commentator] He's done well here. Got away, put a shot...
-What a goal that is! -[cheering]
Nicolas Anelka has been waiting all game
for a chance to take the Premier League Golden Boot.
He's one ahead of Ronaldo now.
But he was sort of maturing as a striker.
Um, Chelsea were sort of slightly more set up
to play for him with the quality of passing they had in midfield.
And he was unplayable for large sections of that season.
[commentator] What a day for Chelsea FC!
The Premier League trophy is coming back to the Bridge!
[cheering]
Chelsea were formidable that season
with the trophies that they won and just the sort of drive they had.
You could feel the hurt from Moscow just powering its way through them.
He turned 30.
That's... Normally, that's the prime age.
Anyway, when you're a football player, 28 to 30 years old...
that's when they say you're at the top of your game.
[he screams] Whoo!
DUBLIN IRELAND
[newscaster] In sports news, the victory of the French team last night in Dublin.
In the first of the World Cup play-offs, France won 1-0
with a goal scored in the second half by Nicolas Anelka.
The French team has a chance to qualify,
but everything depends on the next game on Wednesday.
[Nicolas] I intended to quit after the World Cup.
So, if we didn't qualify, that would be my last match.
And the last match for Titi.
So, we say to each other: "This could be our last game.
This is crazy. We've got to win.
We have to qualify for this World Cup or it's over."
And then came that moment in the scramble
when Titi's hand touched the ball in the lead-up to William's goal.
The day we qualified, we were together
and we were really happy,
but the problems started the next day or the day after.
[journalist] Henry's hand.
The gesture of a handball player to move the ball.
Nothing to applaud.
When France qualifies,
I see how the media is treating Thierry Henry.
He gets France qualified and gets slaughtered.
[Olivier] No one defends him.
One-all. The World Cup is up for grabs. Les Bleus are in South Africa.
I'm not very happy about what happened. I still have that same sick feeling.
Maybe other countries were gonna give him a hard time in the press,
but the French, too?
We were expecting some support, at least.
But it was the exact opposite. It was an all-out massacre, by everybody.
He sacrificed himself for his country, to qualify for the World Cup,
and they spit on him.
Not easy, not easy on a personal level, but hey, you're there, you deal with it.
[Nicolas] When it's Vata, it's OK.
BENFICA LISBON VS OLYMPIQUE DE MARSEILLE
When it's Maradona, it's the hand of God.
When it's Thierry Henry, it's... it's the hand of hellfire, really.
The French team has barely qualified.
With a coach on the brink of being considered illegitimate.
With players who know they're at the end of their careers.
So, actually,
everything was leading to a crisis that could blow up at the slightest hitch.
LONDON ENGLAND
Two months before the World Cup, the coach came to see Nico in London.
We ate galette together, you know. I remember it like yesterday.
We talked about my position on the pitch.
[Younouss] The way he talked with Nico, you'd think: "Holy shit, he trusts him."
The coach had asked him to be his striker, and Nico said:
"OK, I'll be your striker, but you know my playing style.
If you want a player who stays up front, it can't be me."
2 WEEKS BEFORE THE WORLD CUP
[journalist] The French team has landed on the African continent, in Tunisia,
for its second run-up match for the World Cup.
[Younouss] There was a training session where families and friends came to watch.
Nico invited me.
I don't know if he's gonna be mad at me for saying so,
but I'm saying it because people need to know.
You know, he wanted to quit. He wanted to leave the team.
[Nicolas] We play friendlies. I don't even touch the ball.
Nothing. Zero.
No reflexes between us.
[Nicolas] It was ugly.
I knew that when we got to the World Cup in Africa,
the fact that you hadn't built confidence, that you scored no goals, did nothing...
it didn't feel right.
There was Pat Évra. There was Titi Henry. We were eating.
He told me he wanted to leave because he could feel things were going wrong.
I told him: "No, Nico, quit your nonsense."
He said: "Pat, I swear to you, something big is going to happen."
In the end, I was persuaded to stay, but...
[journalist] The last warm-up game for France has just finished.
They lost 1-0. Disappointing. Worrying, even.
[Raymond] It wasn't the time to say we're going to upend everything
because we lost a friendly.
I'm disappointed like everybody else,
but remind myself the World Cup isn't today.
It starts on the 11th.
[Nicolas] At that moment, he was right.
He's the coach. He decides. He'll die defending his ideas. He's right.
We tried talking to him.
[Nicolas] He preferred to stick to his system.
And what happened happened.
[ominous music]
CAPE TOWN SOUTH AFRICA
[journalist] It's 5:45 a.m. This time, Les Bleus are in Africa.
[Nicolas] I was happy to take part, especially as it was in Africa.
-[fans] Vive la France! -[air horn]
-[Nicolas] It's historic. -[air horn]
[upbeat music]
KNYSNA FRANCE BASE CAMP
[cheering]
[Nicolas] We all got along. We wanted to get together and do something great.
Here, we're at the border between the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean.
[Nicolas] And the world's end.
It was a real team.
-Breakfast is at eight! -[laughter]
NICOLAS ANELKA IMAGES
[Nicolas] Oh, man!
Great atmosphere. We had fun.
[chatter]
[shouting and laughing]
[newscaster] Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, the headline this Friday:
the start of the football World Cup.
It sees the first game for the French team
which you can watch after this broadcast.
[ominous music]
[Nicolas] We all went into it with confidence,
knowing that we were extraordinary players,
exceptional in every way.
And so, if we were able to get along and find that team spirit,
we can do something great.
[ominous music]
[disappointed shouts]
[journalist 1] Uruguay and France drew 0-0.
[journalist 2] Three shots on target,
not many opportunities, but a lot of waste.
Gourcuff, Govou and especially Anelka, last night,
seemed way below their best.
[journalist 3] With Nicolas Anelka, what bothers me most is his attitude.
His position is supposed to be centre-forward,
but actually, he's playing like a midfielder.
He goes very deep to get the ball. He's not following instructions.
The solution wasn't gonna come from my teammates.
It had to come from me.
So, that's why I was trying to break away and create opportunities in midfield,
so we could find solutions.
For me, staying up front wasn't the answer.
I just would have been the victim of everything that was going on.
And I hate being a victim on the pitch.
I know it sucked, that my performance wasn't great, but I couldn't do a thing.
[vuvuzelas]
The opening match for France is against Uruguay,
who came fourth in this World Cup.
The French team doesn't play badly. With 0-0, they still have every chance.
[journalist 1] Defeat is out of the question. Victory is a necessity.
[journalist 2] France has to score, and if possible, win tonight
in its second game.
They play Mexico.
[shouting and booing]
[ominous music builds]
[Nicolas] I go into the locker room, frustrated.
I'm thinking to myself:
"I'm not getting the ball, I'm not finding a solution.
We're playing badly. It's 0-0 and we still haven't scored yet."
All of a sudden, the coach comes in and calls me out by name.
When he calls me out,
with all the pent-up frustration from before,
it just burst out.
It burst out because...
because I won't stand for it.
I won't stand for it.
That you call out my name as if I was the one at fault.
As if I was, like, public enemy number one.
As if it was all my fault.
[Nicolas] So, I felt attacked.
I've known Nico for ages: he can be there,
you don't hear a word, won't say a thing.
But like anyone, if you rattle his cage...
That was a huge mistake. He had to know I was frustrated.
He had to know that, on the inside, I was a volcano.
[vuvuzelas]
[ominous music]
When I see the players come out on the pitch, my phone rings. It's Nico.
I say: "Why is he calling me?"
[Younouss] He said: "Yeah, listen, he took me out. Forget about it."
He didn't say it, but I could tell something was up.
Nicolas Anelka doesn't play in the second half against Mexico.
It's unsurprising because he didn't play well in the first half.
The French team loses 2-0 against Mexico.
[Arnaud] It's in a difficult position, but all it takes is beating South Africa
by at least two goals and they're still in.
Somehow, we could tell that the ship was veering into trouble,
which is what happened,
but we thought that it would just be a sporting fiasco.
[ominous music]
[Fabrice] When there's an incident, it's followed by a sanction.
What's the sanction? You're taken off the pitch.
So, you have the chance, if there's a problem,
to take it up with the player, call him into your room, bring him in,
either right away or the next day or after you've really thought it over.
Nothing happened.
I got a call from someone at Canal+ who knows my history with Anelka
who asks me, because there's a rumour going around,
if I'm aware of the clash at half-time during the Mexico match
between Anelka and Raymond Domenech.
[Arnaud] I tell him that I know absolutely nothing.
I send a light-hearted text to Anelka,
asking him if he'd made up with Raymond Domenech yet.
And to my surprise, he texted right back: "LOL. How do you already know about that?"
And I texted him back, saying:
"Listen, it's the front-page headline for tomorrow's L'Équipe."
Then I look at my phone and I say...
"Wait, but what's it say there?
Is this for real or are you joking?"
And he tells me: "No, no.
It's the headline in L'Équipe tomorrow. That's it."
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, in our one o'clock report,
we have news that the French football team has been shaken by a new scandal.
L'Équipe's front-page headline today, Anelka tells Domenech...
[journalist 1] Everyone in South Africa is talking about the Anelka affair.
He insulted Domenech.
[journalist 2] What happened that night and in the hours that followed?
Domenech told Anelka to change position on the pitch
and defend less.
[journalist 2] Instructions that sent Anelka raging with obscenities.
[journalist 3] The row has reached the ears of President Nicolas Sarkozy.
If the events that were reported this morning by the press are accurate...
they are unacceptable.
DESPITE OUR NUMEROUS REQUESTS, THE DAILY SPORTS NEWSPAPER L'ÉQUIPE
AND ITS EDITORIAL TEAM DECLINED TO GIVE US AN INTERVIEW.
THEY ALSO FORBADE US FROM USING ANY REPRODUCTION
OF THE PAPER'S FRONT PAGES FEATURING NICOLAS ANELKA.
You insult the coach's mum...
It's not every day they put that on the front page.
So, in this case, they took it to a new level.
That means if this is the Champions League,
now we're in the Interplanetary League, see what I mean?
And there was no turning back. It was total madness.
And we, we were the victims, you know?
The main victim was me,
but the other players, too, they were taken hostage.
They were like: "Yeah, what's this?" And then everyone was calling them.
They wanted to know if it was true or not, what was going on over there, etc. etc.
No, things got heated. Big time.
When L'Équipe published their headline, we had to go and see Nicolas to find out
if he agreed to make a formal apology to the manager and his teammates.
And in that chaotic and nauseating environment,
in total breakdown...
and even now, we're still suffering from that...
I find a man who was totally disillusioned...
and cold with anger, too.
[François] There was a resentment for the way things had come to pass.
Then, he explained his side to me for a bit,
the ins and outs of it,
how he got to the point of turning against Raymond in the locker room.
That it wasn't... That it wasn't a fit of rage.
That something was going on.
And when you know Nicolas Anelka,
he's not a guy who blows up at the slightest provocation.
It's gonna... It's gonna take root.
The most important thing for me was the group and patching things up
so the guys could focus on the World Cup
and not what had happened in the locker room.
[Nicolas] Pat Évra and Éric Abidal call the coach.
He says he's coming.
We wait for him.
In the end, he never showed up.
[William] The coach ran and hid, sadly. You got to tell it like it is.
Everyone was looking for him in the hotel
so they could have this meeting between Nicolas and the coach.
[journalist] On the pitch in Knysna, Les Bleus are back in training.
We're looking for Nicolas Anelka, but the French striker has disappeared.
The player has been sent home by the French Football Federation
for seriously insulting the coach and not apologising.
The Federation's president has expelled Nicolas Anelka,
deeming his words unacceptable.
The coach confirmed this, but I looked into it anyway.
People who know me know very well that if I had said
what was published by the press, I would have owned up to it.
I've always owned up to everything I've said and done.
"GO FUCK YOURSELF, YOU DIRTY SON OF A BITCH!"
L'ÉQUIPE - 19TH JUNE 2010
I was next to him in the locker room, and at no time
did he ever say what was written in that newspaper.
The person in question never countered the allegation.
For the press to say we suck or whatever, OK by me. No problem.
They said we're catastrophic, we're impostors, whatever.
But for the press to write words like that, it's going too far!
In the morning, I go to get a paper. They were sold out.
It created a huge buzz.
When you look at the photo montage, it's like I'm going to punch him,
when actually, he was far away from me.
I'm sitting down. He talks to me, and I answer him.
It lasted ten seconds.
Knysna is the biggest media fiasco ever.
[Karim N.] All the journalists were at the same bar that night.
There was a kind of determination to get the story at all costs.
They took a lot of liberties with me.
That front page with insults like that?
It's unbelievable.
Won't happen again.
THAT NIGHT, THE PLAYERS GET TOGETHER IN THEIR HOTEL.
[Nicolas] We're sat in a hotel lounge.
I talk to the players, tell them how sad the situation is and everything.
I say: "All you have to do is be focused on the pitch. We've still got one match.
If we win the match..." Because that's how I spoke.
"If we win the match, we qualify."
And the guys start to say to me: "But it's not right. We disagree.
We wanna take a stand and do something for you."
I said: "Do what you wanna do, but know that I am leaving tonight."
And they all decided on it together, while I was there.
They said: "Tomorrow, we won't be talking to the press.
And as a sign of protest, we won't turn up for training."
A film needs a beginning, a middle and an end.
And it's never a happy ending. Except in Hollywood.
I remember the two of them:
Thierry Henry carrying Nico's bag,
and Nico vanishing, just like that, into the night.
I thought: "What a waste. What a waste..."
When he left, I walked him out to the car park.
[melancholy music]
It wasn't easy. It was tough. It was a tough moment.
Once again, I was remembering Clairefontaine.
[Thierry] Remembering the kid who showed up and...
I'm not going to get into the details because I think some things should stay
just between the two of us, but...
but it was tough.
Really tough.
It was the end. After that, I could never play for France again.
[Nicolas] Ending like that leaves a bitter taste.
It was a very moving moment.
Sometimes, there have to be moments like that,
that are sad, but you've got to live through them,
and honestly... it's a moment that I'll never forget.
[Nicolas] So, with that, I leave.
I knew that their plan was to take the bus, but not get off.
But then I get a call from Pat Évra who tells me:
"Nico, we won't be able to do what we said
because there are kids coming, fans of the French team.
So, we're gonna get off.
We'll sign autographs for all the fans,
and when we're done, we'll get back on the bus."
And what happened happened.
[news jingle]
"In this statement to the press, all the French players without exception
confirm their opposition to the decision taken by the French Football Federation
to expel Nicolas Anelka.
At the team's request, the accused player made efforts to open up a dialogue,
but sadly, his actions were voluntarily ignored.
Consequently, to show their opposition to the stance taken
at the highest levels of French football,
all the players have decided not to train in the session scheduled for today.
The players of the French team." Thanks, gentlemen. Goodbye.
I was watching the TV and people were calling me.
It was amazing, like a film.
[journalist 1] For this training session, which was open to the public,
the players just went out to say hi to the fans.
-[journalist 2] What happened? -They'll tell you themselves.
They're the players. It's up to them to tell you.
[journalist 1] Jean-Louis Valentin, Deputy General Manager,
quickly leaves the pitch.
He's furious.
I consider that what's going on is a scandal,
and so, under these conditions, I quit.
[journalist 1] A few yards away, physio Robert Duverne has just heard the news.
The players are refusing to practise.
He almost gets into a fight with Patrice Évra,
and in frustration, violently throws his whistle.
There was the coach who read out his letter.
One guy said: "I quit."
Another throws his whistle and went for Évra.
All in front of the cameras. It was madness!
[Emmanuel] When I see those images of the bus with the window shades down,
it's like someone took them hostage.
Honestly, I thought it was a terrorist attack at first.
[Robert] I knew it would be a mess because I knew the man.
That's why I spoke to the guys. I told them:
"Careful what you do and how far you go with him. Especially with him."
Because in this case, the power is in one person's hands.
[man] Escalettes is there. That's Escalettes.
I feel a bit ashamed about Knysna,
but then you say to yourself: "After all, it's a team sport.
[Olivier] If all the players get together and do things for a certain purpose,
that means something is going on."
But football is a collective of individuals.
It's every man for himself.
THE MUTINY
[dissonance]
It's a field of ruins in every way. We've lost our values.
It's all the excesses of our society: money, individualism...
In the end, what is the French team if it's not a team of traders?
[flashes]
[journalist 1] Since his debut at PSG,
Anelka has rarely tolerated people standing up to him.
[journalist 2] He insults his friends, the people of France,
and it's not the first time that he's insulted everybody.
All his past statements about his love for the French team,
we just let it slide.
In France, we've let it all slide!
People have told a lot of stories about Nicolas Anelka,
with his kind of who-cares fatalistic indifference
about the importance of the French team, when it's anything but that.
[François] Nico was one of those rare people, in that whole ordeal,
who was able to show empathy.
A few weeks later, by text or whatever it was,
I mention South Africa in my message and he replied:
"Sorry for everything that happened."
As if he was the only one responsible, the guilty party,
when it wasn't that at all.
Couldn't be further from it.
Since Nico doesn't open up to everybody, and even then, only about certain things,
he tends to keep them inside and deal with them all alone.
You wonder how much he suffers, how you can help him.
And that's what's important.
But with other people, what they say or what they're going to say,
you already know that.
PARIS NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Your Honourable Minister of Health and Sport.
I can only take note, as you do, of the disaster with the French team,
wherein immature gangsters intimidate frightened young kids.
It was just taken for granted.
That's how it was. He'd said this. He'd done that.
He was responsible for everything.
It was pretty violent.
So, I was happy that my children were too young
to understand what was going on at the time.
It was hard for his parents, especially, because me, well, at least...
I... I knew it was... I know him, but for his parents, it wasn't easy.
[melancholy music]
There's a world of difference between what people think of Nico and Nico.
HIGH COURT OF PARIS
ON 19TH JULY 2010, NICOLAS ANELKA SUES L'ÉQUIPE FOR:
"DEFAMATION OF CHARACTER BY SPOKEN OR WRITTEN WORD,
IMAGE OR OTHER COMMUNICATION TO THE PUBLIC [...]"
It's a shocking headline.
I wanted to be judged on that.
I was asked if that's what I'd said.
And I said: "No. Those are not my words.
So, judge me on that headline and those words."
EXTRACT OF THE 1ST JULY 2011 VERDICT:
"THE EDITORIAL CHOICE OF ITS FRONT-PAGE,
UNQUESTIONABLY SPECTACULAR IF NOT SENSATIONALIST,
FALLS WITHIN THE SCOPE OF JOURNALISTIC FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION."
"[...] IT IS ADMITTED THAT THIS CAN BE ACCOMPANIED
BY A DEGREE OF EXAGGERATION, OR EVEN PROVOCATION."
Today, with this legal precedent,
you can put words into the mouth of any person and add an insult,
without fearing prosecution, if at the very least,
people know that there has been an argument between two people.
Which means that, today, journalists are free to assign
statements, in quotes, to any person,
and attribute insults to them, no matter how serious they may be.
This legal precedent has made that exaggeration legitimate today.
8 YEARS LATER, RAYMOND DOMENECH REVISITS
THE INCIDENT WITH NICOLAS ANELKA IN THE DOCUMENTARY SÉLECTIONNEURS.
[dissonance]
There are moments in the locker room when you have heated exchanges.
That's how it is. That's all.
But he didn't say what was written in the newspapers, that's for sure.
At half-time, I told him: "Nico, what I want is for you to go in deep."
He had his cleats in his hand.
He turns back and as he turns around, he throws them down and says:
"Go ahead with your shit team on your own!"
Supposedly it was him, but it turns out today that it wasn't.
He was the perfect target.
The other guy was the manager. [he whistles]
Nobody talked about results anymore or about what was happening in the game.
There was only one affair. The Anelka affair.
People were a bit shocked by what he said in that documentary.
Nearly eight years later, that he said those weren't my words.
But he said they were to the Federation.
I think the press knew that, but nobody said anything.
When the judgement was announced,
when the headline was declared and judged to be defamatory,
nobody took any notice.
Nobody. Not a single article.
L'Équipe was acquitted.
Yes, that was the official ruling, but even so,
it doesn't take away from the fact that the headline is defamatory.
If they had attributed a statement of that kind to anybody else
besides Nicolas Anelka... L'Équipe would have been condemned.
NICOLAS ANELKA WILL NEVER PLAY FOR FRANCE AGAIN
AFTER 69 CAPS AND 14 GOALS.
[electronic music]
LONDON ENGLAND
[Nicolas] I thank God every day
because I was lucky that my children were too young
to understand what happened in South Africa...
Hello!
...and everything that went on throughout my career.
Things were said that had nothing to do with me.
They were invented. Negative things about me, about my life.
About my brothers and their ambition.
[hip-hop]
♪ Happy birthday, Daddy! ♪
♪ Happy birthday to you! ♪
[Barbara] One, two, three!
[laughing and cheering]
[William] He's sensitive, but he doesn't show it.
And I get the impression that in football, you've got to show how you feel.
[William] If you don't show it, people say you're cold,
you're not friendly.
I think he was protecting himself from all that notoriety,
from everything that was going on in football,
because he felt that it wasn't his world, he wasn't in his element.
And I think protecting himself like that,
he maybe created a disconnect between himself and the public.
[melancholy music]
OVER THE COURSE OF HIS CAREER,
NICOLAS ANELKA HAS PLAYED IN 7 COUNTRIES INCLUDING CHINA AND INDIA.
[Nicolas] I'm lucky.
I've travelled.
I made a lot of money.
I kind of did what I wanted in life.
And at the age of 31, almost 32,
I felt it was time to relax a bit.
TODAY, HE WORKS AS A COACH.
[Nicolas] People often think that football is easy.
[Nicolas] Just like that, that's it!
[Nicolas] No. It's complicated.
Very hard to manage that pressure,
to be at your best all the time, for a whole career.
A career isn't a year or two. It's 15-20 years.
[electronic music]
[Nicolas] Like I said, it wasn't the best path.
I don't recommend it to anyone.
But it's my path.
IN MEMORY OF JEAN-PHILIPPE ANELKA
[soft music]
[French rap]