Jérémy Morel has finished Ligue 1 Uber Eats runner-up with both Olympique de Marseille and Olympique Lyonnais, and helped Stade Rennais to an historic UEFA Champions League qualification, but says his best year in football was the one he spent playing for Marcelo Bielsa.
The Brittany-born 36-year-old, who rejoined his first club Lorient this summer, reminisced about some of his career highlights for The Ligue 1 Show.
BEST GOAL
"A goal against Nantes, at La Beaujoire! A strike from about 20 yards out, just another shot really. I was lucky! It's nice to score, especially for me! So yeah, it was a good feeling!"
WATCH: Jérémy Morel scores for Marseille against Lorient in an eight-goal thriller
BEST MEMORY
"It's more something global than a specific moment. It's the year I spent at Marseille with Bielsa. It was a real pleasure playing those games, out on the pitch it was fantastic, all we wanted was to battle, to really fight for results playing good football! He managed to get that through to us, that year was really special for me!"
WORST MEMORY
"The own goal I scored, Marseille against Paris. A Parisian cross came in from our right flank, I tried to stop its trajectory with a tackle because Ibrahimović was just behind me! I wanted to clear it, but it ended up as quite an impressive own goal… At least I can say I've scored against Steve Mandanda!"
BEST ATMOSPHERE
"It was a Marseille vs Lyon, that year with Bielsa! The atmosphere was crazy, it was electric, in the right sense! We were up for the fight, without it becoming violent, but we wanted to fight, and the fans did too! As a professional footballer, you want to play in stadiums like those, to do so is really fantastic! I'll remember that atmosphere for a very long time!"
WATCH: The best atmosphere Morel has experienced: the Olimpico
BEST PLAYER
"One that comes to mind, is when I was playing for Lorient. We were away at Lille during their glory days, and it was Gervinho playing on their right wing! Brilliant dribbling, capable of cutting in and staying wide, a very good player!"
TOUGHEST OPPONENT
"I'll say Neymar because one of those players who is so technically gifted that his game is instinctive! Those players do what they want! They react to what the defender does, if you give them a sign you're going left or right, then they'll go the opposite way, players like that are very difficult to stop!"
