Sagna opens up

[Rockin' Robin]

AS phone calls go, this one really was life-changing. At first his father's words were greeted with a laugh of disbelief.

That laugh quickly turned to tears, followed by intense feelings of pain and loss that will last a lifetime.


This was Bacary Sagna being told that his older brother Omar had been found dead in the bath at his home in France, aged just 28, after suffering a seizure.


It was February 2008 and life had seemed great for the Arsenal defender.


His new club were challenging for the Premier League title and the Champions League in his first season in English football.


He had made his debut for France and was hoping to end a successful domestic campaign by travelling to Austria and Switzerland for Euro 2008.


Then, from nowhere, he was hit with the devastating news.


His brother had been suffering health problems for some time. But the shock of hearing that a previously unknown condition had caused his death sparked a degeneration in Sagna's mind that had a near- catastrophic effect on his football.


"It was February 13, 2008, the day before my birthday," he recalls. "My father called and said, 'Your brother died'.


"I didn't want to know what he died from.


"I knew it was Omar, as he was in poor health, but I started laughing, 'It's not possible'. My father started crying.


"Then I put the phone down, so my wife took it. I went to my bedroom, lay down on the bed and saw the pictures of my life.


"Tears followed later. Then a child's fear came, losing a person I love.


"I now feel the day of my birthday and this date is terrible for me. I have to live with this weight. After that, I didn't care. It lasted for a long time and I was not myself any more on the pitch.


"I had big concentration problems and I ended up seeing the club psychologist.


"It was important because for 12 months I had kept everything inside me except when I spoke of my anguish with my wife."

Deteriorate
Sagna, now 27, saw his fortunes on and off the pitch deteriorate during those months he was trying to deal with his brother's death.


Arsenal were beginning to show signs that they would fall out of the title race despite performing consistently at home and abroad up to that point.


The former Auxerre defender decided to play in the Champions League second round first leg game against AC Milan at the Emirates on February 20.


Omar had been dead just 10 days when Sagna took to the field at Birmingham as part of the Gunners side that witnessed Eduardo's horrific double compound fracture of his right leg.


In the same match, his friend William Gallas took a first step towards losing the Arsenal captaincy by staging his own sit-down protest on the St Andrew's turf after his side conceded a late penalty.


It was a turning point in the season and had a profound psychological effect on those Arsenal players who witnessed Martin Taylor's challenge.


Even after Arsenal emerged triumphant from the return leg at the San Siro, the rot was setting in. Sagna pointed to the skies when he scored his first goal for Arsenal at Chelsea the following month.


If they had clung to the three points at Stamford Bridge the title would probably have returned to North London for the first time in four years.


Instead, Sagna badly damaged his ankle just 13 minutes after his headed opener. And within 60 seconds of Sagna being replaced by Abou Diaby, Chelsea's Didier Drogba scored the first of two goals which would turn the game on its head and give victory to Avram Grant's side.


The injury that looked like keeping him out for "up to five weeks," in Arsene Wenger's words, would eventually see Sagna miss the rest of the season. It cost him a place at Euro 2008, which would have been his first appearance at a major international tournament.


In the space of a cruel few weeks, Wenger's team were out of the title race and the Champions League, having been beaten by Liverpool over two legs.


What could have been a perfect season for Sagna was fast turning into a nightmare.


He is still suffering.

Impact
Last month he experienced more emotion as the second anniversary of his brother's passing coincided with the first birthday of his only child.


He sat on the substitutes' bench during the home clash with Liverpool and wept openly for his brother.


The loss had made an indelible impact on him, one he readily admits to under-estimating.


"At the start, I thought that I had accepted his death," he said.


"But it hit back and I started being regularly ill.


"The club psychologist then came to see me.


"It was before an away game and he asked if I was feeling well. I said yes, and he answered, 'I'm not sure. Your eyes are empty'.


"He was right. I wasn't there.


"Sometimes I would get back home after training and not even remember the road I had taken.


"In matches it was the same. I was seeing the ball in slow motion. I was thinking and thinking.


"Today I still see the psychologist. He has the right words. He has explained to me that the life of man is made up of good and bad moments.


"Sometimes we speak for two hours in a room - in English, which can limit our exchanges.


"I saw him recently, before the game against Liverpool at home. It was on February 10. He said to me, 'I know it's a difficult time for you'.


"I had tears in my eyes. I was on the bench for that game and there was certainly a link.


"I still have concentration lapses, especially in training.


"There was also the birth of my kid, Elias, a year ago, and that took a lot of energy from me. I was at my deepest point and I had to cope with the arrival of a child, and the death of my brother.


"It was sadness mixed with happiness and I was exhausted."




SAGNA: Chasing glory with ArsenalSagna has proved a popular addition to the Arsenal squad since arriving from Auxerre as a £6million replacement for Cameroon international Lauren, who had served the Gunners with distinction for seven years. His solid displays in a back line that has too often looked brittle in recent seasons have earned him as much respect as his flamboyant hairstyle has earned him notoriety.


The blond braids have now been in place for 10 years, since he won an unusual bet with his father Bassirou.


The teenage Sagna, who was born in Sens, northern France, was told that if he managed to score twice for Auxerre's fourth team in a game against the senior side, he would be allowed to have his hair styled any way he wanted.


He pulled off the unlikely feat and the hair extensions have remained in place ever since.


Now the full-back is determined that football history is not about to repeat itself.


With Arsenal again in contention for the Premier League title and facing a Champions League quarter-final against Barcelona, Sagna wants a happy ending this time.There is also the World Cup.


France may have qualified controversially in the play-off against the Republic of Ireland, but Les Bleus are heading to South Africa.


It was in an impromptu discussion with France coach Raymond Domenech and some of his Arsenal team-mates on the plane to Serbia and Montenegro at the start of this season that Sagna let them know of the pain and anguish he had been suffering.


He needed to explain the uncharacteristic lapses in his game.


He also made it clear that he was putting in extra training to regain the performance level he was at before tragic experience took hold of him.


Sagna has played a key role for Arsenal this season as one of the more experienced heads in a youthful team.

Adversity
They have been given a hiding or two in the last seven months, but like Sagna himself they have emerged stronger from adversity.


"Things got back into place on the away trip with the French team," he said. "It was in Serbia last September.


"On the plane, the coach came to me to talk and I let everything out. I was with William Gallas, Abou Diaby and Gael Clichy.


"I told him about those moments when I didn't care.


"I told him I didn't understand why I was feeling like this. When a striker went past me, I couldn't care.


"Now, if a striker gets past me... No, he doesn't get past me!


"I do even more in training. I do extra work. I work on my crosses as I'd never really worked on this before.

"I practise crossing with my right and my left foot. I want to be the best again.


"One day, Gallas told me, 'With your qualities, why don't you move more into the middle of the pitch after getting the ball?'


"I needed a team-mate to tell me that."

http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/sport/f ... RMENT.html

[Massa]

Wowsers.

[CynicalGooner]

eye-opening read.

On the pitch I think he coped very well with the situation and is a bit hard on himself.

[GunnGunn]

Way too hard on himself...

Good to see he is practicing his crossing on both feet.

[Inchpräctice]

This is the interview from the recent Arsenal magazine that I was talking about the other day.
It's actually an interview with a French magazine that Arsenal have borrowed.
This is the one where he says "I never actually learned to cross."

[IMF]

That was one depressing read. Explains a lot though. Lets hope that he can concentrate on being the best RB which is what he was when he first came here.

"I do even more in training. I do extra work. I work on my crosses as I'd never really worked on this before.

"I practise crossing with my right and my left foot. I want to be the best again.

Well he's never worked on crossing before; what I want to know is... who the hell trains these players to cross? Fire the trainer.

[GunnGunn]

He is still one of the best RB's in the World and IMO the best one in the world defensively, the most natural defender we have, when was the last time he was beaten for power or pace?

His crossing does leave a lot to be desired but you can't deny IMF that he has gotten a hell of a lot better especially the second half of this season, i think this Interview prompted him to really focus on his crossing and this interview was only a couple of months back if that.

If he sorts out his crossing he will be the best in the World by some distance.

[Goose]

Yeah his crossing has improved, he has gotten a few assists from crosses this season.

The bit about him not caring if a striker gets past him, sounds like how Denilson approaches the game.

[GunnGunn]

Yeah his crossing has improved, he has gotten a few assists from crosses this season.

The bit about him not caring if a striker gets past him, sounds like how Denilson approaches the game.

You need to read it again...

[Gunner Down Under]

"One day, Gallas told me, 'With your qualities, why don't you move more into the middle of the pitch after getting the ball?'


"I needed a team-mate to tell me that."

I wonder who that reminds me of......

[Massa]

Sagna moving to the middle of the pitch is kinda like him playing CB...