Ludovic Giuly

Ludovic Vincent Giuly (born 10 July 1976) is a French former professional footballer who played as a winger.

Giuly represented France at international level, gaining 17 caps over a five-year period and was a member of their 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup-winning squad. One of his greatest moments was being part of Barcelona's squad, as he helped the team win the UEFA Champions League in 2005–06. Since June 2022, he has been the assistant manager of Lyon.

Club career

Early life

Giuly was immersed in the world of football from an early age since his father, Dominique Giuly, born in the village of Zalana, in Corsica, was a former goalkeeper, who played briefly in professional football for Bastia before continuing an amateur career until the age of 32 with several clubs in the suburbs of Lyon. Ludovic Giuly made his debut in the club in which his father was then active: the ASCMO, now known as Monts d'Or Azergues Foot, in the city of Chasselay, located about twenty kilometers from Lyon. He then entered the training center of Olympique Lyonnais. In 1994, he won the Coupe Gambardella with their U18 team.

Lyon

Giuly began his career with Lyon in 1994 at age 18, and made his debut for the club in a Division 1 match on 21 January 1995 against Cannes; a 3–1 win. The following season, Giuly earned the nickname "the magic elf", referring to his low height (1.64 metres) and his vivacious character. In the 1996–97 season, Giuly finished the season with 16 goals in 37 matches. During the 1997–98 season, he played 19 matches with Lyon and scored one goal. He made his last appearance for Lyon on 10 January 1998 in a 1–0 loss against Marseille, where he played 90 minutes.

AS Monaco

Giuly was signed by Monaco in the winter break in January 1998. The transfer fee was €7.5 million (£6.6 million), although the fee was then assessed at 42 million francs, which was a considerable sum at that time.

Just ten days after playing for Lyon against Marseille, Giuly made his Monaco debut against them in a 1–1 draw on 20 January 1998. Giuly scored his first goal for Monaco in a 5–2 win over Bordeaux in May 1998, on the final day of Ligue 1. In his first half-season with Monaco, he made a total of 12 appearances, scoring once.

In the 1999–2000 season, Giuly proved to be a key member in the Monaco squad on its right side, as he led his team to the Ligue 1 title for the first time since 1997. The next season turned out to be a troublesome campaign, after Monaco finished in 11th place in the league. Giuly scored 7 goals in 30 appearances. In the 2001–02 season, Giuly started strongly with two goals against Paris Saint-Germain and Lens respectively, before he suffered ruptured ligaments in his right knee which kept him sidelined for almost the entire season and spoiled his chances of playing in the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

The 2002–03 season was decisive for Giuly. He made his return from injury in a match against Troyes in a 4–0 win on 3 August 2003. In the 2003 Coupe de la Ligue Final between Monaco and Sochaux, Giuly captained the side and scored a brace in a 4–1 win to win the Coupe de la Ligue for the first time in the club's history. His good performance at Monaco led him being selected in the FIFA Confederations Cup which France won.

At the start of the 2003–04 season – Giuly's last with Monaco – he scored a superb overhead kick during a league match against Lens with an assist from Jérôme Rothen, having suffered an injury that kept him out for a week prior to the game. While the club floundered in the race for the Ligue 1 title, they had a fantastic run in the UEFA Champions League progressing through the group stage (where Giuly scored goals at home to AEK Athens and Deportivo de La Coruña) and making it through to the knockout stage. Here, Monaco eliminated Lokomotiv Moscow, Real Madrid (in which he scored a brace in the second leg) and Chelsea. Giuly captained Monaco in the final, where they lost 3–0 to José Mourinho's Porto. This was a particularly galling defeat for Giuly because he suffered a groin injury early in the match, forcing him to leave the field in the 23rd minute, being replaced by Dado Pršo. Without Giuly, the club's task of winning the final was even more compromised. Even manager Didier Deschamps admitted that losing Giuly was a "big blow" and said, "Giuly's injury was not good news for us – he is a very important player for us on the offensive side." This was Giuly's last appearance for Monaco.

Barcelona

Barcelona paid about €7 million to Monaco in order to sign Giuly on 28 June 2004, with Giuly signing a three-year contract. On 29 August 2004, Giuly scored on his Barcelona debut against Racing de Santander in a 2–0 win and played 90 minutes. On his move, Giuly was happy after enjoying a successful start to life in Spain.

Giuly helped Barcelona to win La Liga in the 2004–05 season, ending a six-year championship drought. He was the second top scorer for the club with 11 goals. Although his season was disrupted by several muscle injuries, Giuly was able to fulfil his promise to reach double digits in goals in his first year at his new club.

In 2005–06, he helped win the Spanish title again, as well as capture the second UEFA Champions League trophy for the Catalan club. Giuly propelled Barça into the Champions League final by scoring the only goal in their semi-final against Milan. After the match, Giuly said he had called on his teammates to keep calm and finish the job: "Ronnie passed me the perfect ball. I attempted a shot from the left, the ball went in, so much the better! Now we've got one foot in the final, we have to remain cool and work hard to try and go all the way."

Giuly played the full 90 minutes in Paris as Barcelona came from a goal behind to defeat Arsenal 2–1 at the Stade de France. Giuly subsequently scored, but the goal was ruled out due to the foul resulting Jens Lehmann sending off (making him the first player and only goalkeeper to ever be sent off in a Champions League/European Cup final). FIFA president Sepp Blatter later said he believed Giuly's goal should have stood.

In the 2006–07 season, Giuly, although still a key member of the ''Barça'' squad, eventually lost his starting spot in the team, when Lionel Messi was promoted from the club's youth ranks. This resulted in Giuly saying his farewell to Barcelona.

Roma

On 17 July 2007, Giuly signed for Roma on a three-year deal after the club paid a £2.2 million transfer fee to ''Barça''. A month later, Giuly won his first trophy with his new club, winning the Supercoppa Italiana against Internazionale (0–1). On 26 August 2007, he made his Serie A debut for Roma in a 2–0 win over Palermo. The next match, on 2 September, Giuly scored his first goal in a 3–0 win over Siena. In the UEFA Champions League group stage, Giuly scored and provided assist for Mirko Vučinić in a 4–1 win over Ukrainian side Dynamo Kyiv on 27 November. In the second leg of the round of 16 in the Coppa Italia, he also scored and provided two assists for Mancini and Roma fan favourite Francesco Totti in a 4–0 win over Torino on 16 January 2008.

However, Giuly's only season at Roma had him scoring more than many starting players which made him in the top five scorers at the club for the season he spent at Stadio Olimpico.

Paris Saint-Germain

Desiring to return to France for more playing time, Giuly was coveted by Monaco, Marseille and Lyon, but on 18 July 2008, he signed with Paris Saint-Germain on a three-year contract, with PSG paying a reported €2.5 million transfer fee to Roma. On 9 August 2008, he made his PSG debut against former club Monaco in a 1–0 loss. After an early season goal drought, marked by injury, he scored his first goal for PSG during their 1–0 win over Lille on 10 November. He scored his second goal against Le Havre and lead the team to a victory against Lyon, scoring a header against his first club. He scored his first brace of the season on 7 February 2009 against Nantes. In his first season at the club, PSG had moderate success in Ligue 1, finishing in sixth place and narrowly missing out on European play due to inferior goal difference.

In his second season ( 2009–10), PSG's league form was much worse and they finished in 13th place. He scored the first goal for the Parisian team against Montpellier (1–1) on the first day of the championship and scored again in their second fixture against Le Mans, as well as in their fifth fixture, against Lyon. That season, PSG won the Coupe de France, defeating his former team Monaco in the final.

In his third and final season ( 2010–11), Giuly began by scoring in play-off round of the UEFA Europa League, away at Maccabi Tel Aviv. In Ligue 1, PSG pushed up in the league table, especially after the arrival of winger Nenê, who had transferred in the summer of 2010. On 27 October 2010, Giuly scored against Lyon in Coupe de la Ligue, allowing PSG to win the match 2–1. Giuly scored four goals in the league that season, against Montpellier, Brest, Sochaux and Nice

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