The night Bono taught Martial the ‘Never Give Up’

Monchi has been in contact with Anthony Martial for many weeks, in which he has managed to convince him that there was no better place than Sevilla to relaunch his career despite the fact that other clubs with a greater name and power, such as Juventus, they had also requested his transfer to Manchester United. But it’s been a long time since the French striker knows perfectly well the team he joins, which has made him bitter twice and both times as a Manchester United player. In March 2018, the Nervión defeated the red devils in the round of 16 of the Champions League. In that tie, Martial had an almost testimonial appearance: 10 minutes as a substitute at the end of the first leg at the Sánchez-Pizjuán (0-0) and 13′ in the second leg, when two goals from Wissam Ben Yedder (1-2) had Made Old Trafford mute already.

Few games, however, will surely have marked Martial’s career more than the third he has played so far against Sevilla, on August 16, 2020. In that express Europa League semifinal played in Germany, Yassine Bono taught the French with facts what that phrase from the anthem of El Arrebato means, ‘they say he never gives up’. In just four minutes, from 49 to 53, the Moroccan goalkeeper was able to stop the Parisian winger, who was then playing as a 9. Martial was being a nightmare for Diego Carlos and Koundé, but he couldn’t with the Moroccan goalkeeper, whom he will have to wait a few more days to see again because he traveled to the Africa Cup. During that 19-20 start of the pandemic, Martial was chosen as United’s best player thanks to his 23 goals in 48 games, a progression that did not continue last season, when The 60 million euros paid to Monaco in 2015 for him were once again questioned.

The Principality club achieved multiply by 12 what was invested just two seasons earlier, something that possibly made it safe to pull Jean-Michel Aulas’s hair, president of Lyon. “We have to transfer Anthony Martial to respect Olympique de Lyon’s strategy.” With this concise statement Aulas dispatched the unexpected transfer of Anthony to Monaco during the summer of 2013, in exchange for about five million euros. At just 18 years of age, Martial had only played for a few minutes in Ligue 1 with Lyon’s first team, but the fans were already comparing him to another great striker who has come out of his academy in recent times, Karim Benzema.

The Lyon scouts had recruited him from his neighborhood club, Les Ulis, the same place where Thierry Henry and Patrice Evra grew up by the way. In 2009, not yet 14 years old, Anthony left for the Rhône city to grow as one of the strongest values ​​in the Lyon youth academy until that unexpected sale to Monaco in 2013. Claudio Ranieri, then coach Monegasque, he did not make his official debut until the end of November. During his first start, on the 30th of that month, Martial scored his first goal as a professional, against Rennes. In minute 74′, applauded by Luis II, he is replaced by a footballer who will now accompany him in Sevilla’s attack: Lucas Ocampos.