He is one of the myths of Moroccan football. But also of the Blues: if Larbi Benbarek saw his legend thwarted by the war, then unravel over time, the semi-final of the France-Morocco World Cup is an opportunity to remember the “imprint” left on the two shores of the Mediterranean.
A sign: while records are falling in Qatar among the reigning world champions, between the 143 selections of Hugo Lloris and the 53 goals of Olivier Giroud, there is one that still resists, that of longevity in the France team – 15 years and 10 months – held by Benbarek, child of Casablanca and “God” of the round ball as qualified one day the “king” Pelé in person.
But first, the 1930s. As Europe was about to sink back into war madness, the first North African players were pointing the tips of their cleats on the grounds of the Old Continent. Among them, a pioneer, Larbi Benbarek, “the first to have broken through at such a high level”, confirms to AFP Ahmed Bessol, North African football specialist and author of several books on its history.
Until the mid-1950s, this high-class striker, endowed with “exceptional technique”, lively and overpowered, “marked the era with his mark. The public throughout France went to see him play, it was something extraordinary. And there are so many stories about him!”, recalls this 76-year-old Algerian expert.
“A whole story”, is also the expression of a young sports journalist from the ORTF, Thierry Roland, in a 1963 report devoted to Benbarek, “one of the two big names in French sport in Morocco, with Marcel Cerdan”.
In this documentary, Benbarek, retired for half a dozen years, tells of the pride of having worn the blue jersey 17 times. “If I had a great worldwide reputation, it’s thanks to France”, underlines the one who then works to train new generations of Moroccan players. “I am convinced that there will be some later that will give great satisfaction”, he comments soberly, in these rare images.
– “He was great” –
Even rarer, unfortunately, are the images of the player Benbarek who enchanted the lawns of Europe, at a time when television had not yet imposed itself in homes.
Born one day in 1917 – on a date never really known – Larbi Benbarek hit his first balls in Casablanca, the economic capital of the kingdom, where his class ended up attracting the good eye of the European leaders of the Moroccan US. Then come Olympique de Marseille, Stade Français, and Atlético Madrid, a Spanish club he enchanted at the turn of the 1950s with more than 60 goals in 120 matches.
In the French team? “He was the star, he was not only talented, he was brilliant!” Exclaims Ahmed Bessol.
In response to popular demand, Larbi Benbarek started with the Blues at the end of 1938 in Rome, during a defeat (1-0) on hostile ground, in Benito Mussolini’s Italy. His recital, the Casablancais keeps it for the beginning of the following year, at the Parc des Princes, against Poland (4-0).
He earned the nickname “black pearl”, but his rise was stopped short by the war, which led him to return to Morocco.
– “Think a little about him” –
After 1945, the extent of his talent reopened the door to the Blues for him, until his departure for Spain, a bad experience in France, in 1948. Then, one last time, in October 1954, against the FRG, at the age of 38 and half. There, if his body lets go – he leaves on injury – he lives “his greatest memory”, in his own words, modest, at the ORTF.
The following? A one-year freelance at USM Bel Abbès, in an Algeria launched into a war of liberation, and some coaching experience, notably at the head of the Lions of the Atlas – an independent Morocco since 1956 for which he could have played.
Gradually, Larbi Benbarek fell into oblivion, on both shores of the Mediterranean, until he died in near indifference in Casablanca in 1992.
In 2011, however, a Moroccan director, Driss Mrini, devoted a documentary to him “Larbi, or the destiny of a great footballer”, then the Institute of the Arab World (IMA) an exhibition in 2019 in Paris.
“In the Maghreb, I was happy to see that people were talking about it,” says Ahmed Bessol. And if “he died without giving him the homage he deserved, maybe, there, with this France-Morocco, we will think a little about him”, he adds.
