Franck Ribéry in tears for his farewell to the Salernitana public – L’Équipe

The tears eventually rose, and Franck Ribéry could not hold them back. The day after the official announcement of his retirement from sport, the former French international (39 years old, 81 caps) was greeted by the public of Salernitana on Saturday, during a short ceremony before the match against La Spezia . A strong emotional moment for the former Marseille and Bayern Munich player. Questioned by the Gazzetta dello Sport before being honored by his last club, for which he will continue to work until the end of the season, Ribéry returned to the days which followed the match against AS Roma, his last in career (0-1, August 14, 2022). If he admitted that his knees were already handicapping him before the resumption of the Championship, he had to make up his mind when he saw that he was unable to move for three days following the first meeting of the season. “I couldn’t believe I was forced to stop, I wanted to choose when to say stop,” he said. Ribéry knew that the end was approaching, but he still had difficulty accepting the acceleration of events. Far from being disgusted with football, he confirmed that he would continue to work for Salernitana, as an ambassador before displaying his ambitions for the future: “In the future, I would like to be a coach, I am in love with football. »