In Monterrey (Nuevo León), in the northeast of Mexico, he is a competitor, thirsty for titles, thirsty for goals, who continues to write his legend day after day. Best center forward of the Tigers and highest paid footballer in the championship, the French international André-Pierre Gignac (36 games, 7 goals with the Blues) broke a new record in the Mexican league this weekend. An extraordinary performance which once again confirms the rebirth of “Bomboro”!
In the Eye of the Tiger
Passed by Lorient, Pau, Toulouse and Marseille, André-Pierre Gignac surprised the football world in 2015 by deciding to leave Olympique de Marseille to join the Tigres de Monterrey, one of the most respected teams on the continent. American. A 180 ° turn for those who wanted to change their life and take on a new challenge more than 9,000 km and 7 hours away from their native region. A first also in a championship hitherto unrecognized in Europe, which had not welcomed any French for nearly 20 years and the signing of Amara Simba to FC León in 1996.
In his cocoon of Monterrey where he has lived for five years with his wife Deborah and his three youngest children Grace (7 years), Eden (3 years) and Mavy (1 year), far from the tumult of the city and the passion if particular who lives in Mexican aficionados, André-Pierre Gignac has definitely found his Eldorado in Mexico. Adored throughout the country for his maddening statistics and his goals from elsewhere, protected by his trainer Ricardo Ferretti known as “Tuca” and supported by all of his teammates, “APG” put himself in the best possible conditions. to break many records in the land of the Aztecs.
And Gignac became a “demigod”
As soon as he arrived in Mexico, Gignac made a name for himself. Biggest transfer in Mexican league history marks official debut in the 2015 Copa Libertadores semi-final first leg and scores his first goal in the second leg, propelling the Mexican club to the final of the competition . A prolific season followed where he scored eleven goals in fifteen games, then four in La Liguilla (play-off of La Liga MX). He won the opening championship of Mexico in the final against the Pumas Unam. In the process, he was elected best player of the tournament. His Mexican destiny is then all mapped out. In December 2016, André-Pierre Gignac first beat the record for goals (9) in the final phase of Liguilla, then old in 1979. Then in 2019, he scored his hundredth achievement with the Mexican club. In the summer of the same year, he became the best center-forward in club history with 105 goals scored. In terms of the prize list, he offers the Tigers seven of the sixteen trophies won by the Mexican club since its creation in 1967: three opening tournaments of the Mexican championship (2015, 2016 and 2017), one closing tournament (2019), two Super Cups of the Mexico (2017 and 2018) and a Campeones Cup (2018). Since his arrival, the Tigers have entered a new dimension and with them, the Mexican league has made a name for itself.
Finally, last weekend, the French striker became the top European scorer in the history of the Mexican league (125) thanks to a double Sunday against Toluca (2-1), who also qualifies his team for the final phase. “APG” thus breaks a 74-year-old record, held until then by Spaniard Isidro Langara and his 124 goals. With 13 goals on the clock this season, Gignac is at the top of the Mexican league scorers standings. He is therefore still in the running to win the title of top scorer in the competition, after having already done so twice, in 2016 and in 2018. A rebirth for those who skated somewhat in Europe. However, under the Mexican sun, André-Pierre Gignac keeps a thought for OM – his club of always, of which he will have worn the jersey for five seasons and with which he will have crossed the symbolic bar of 100 goals in Ligue 1 – and for the France team and its failed love affair with the Blues.
What if he hadn’t hit the post at the Euro?
“With ifs, we would bottle Paris”, the saying goes. But let’s imagine for a moment that on this evening of July 2016 at the Stade de France, André-Pierre Gignac offered himself a heroic destiny, capsizing the hearts of millions of French people, by scoring the winning goal against Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal. . What would have been his career in Blue? No doubt he would have been crowned world champion. Perhaps he would have returned to Europe to finish his career. But we are not rewriting history …
Read also World Cup: the still sharp pain of the lost final of the Euro
Summoned by Didier Deschamps to Euro 2016 after an explosive season in his new Tigres UANL jersey in Mexico, André-Pierre Gignac made his appearance in the final of the competition against Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal. Twelve minutes from the end of the second period, the native of Martigues (Bouches-du-Rhône) replaces Olivier Giroud. During the stoppage of play, while the two teams are still tied (0-0), the Blues are the siege of the Portuguese goal. Served in the box by Patrice Évra, “Dédé” achieves a magnificent sequence and erases Pepe with a hook before hitting… on the post. Antoine Griezmann, too short, can not resume. A traumatic memory that still haunts the memory of the French striker and all the French supporters, shot after the coup de grace carried by the hero for a day of Portuguese football, Eder. After this terrible disappointment, André-Pierre Gignac will play only three games with the French selection in which he will not score any goal. A true demigod in Mexico, the child of Martigues, however, leaves behind an aftertaste of unfinished selection.
