Thursday, September 28, 2023
The Swedish Garrincha, Part 4
Despite his burgeoning cult status at Marseille, for his first two seasons at the club Roger Magnusson was still "owned" by Juventus. By 1970, however, with Serie A's foreigner ban still in place, the bianconeri had abandoned any hopes of luring him back to Turin for a handful of European matches per season. They decided to cut their losses.
Magnusson's compatriot Ove Kindvall, whose goals had helped propel his club Feyenoord to a European Cup win earlier in the year, was keen to bring the now 25-year-old winger to Holland. And the reigning European club champions did put in an impressive bid. But Magnusson had by now found a home and an adoring fanbase in Marseille, and he was only too happy to stay. On 12 July 1970, for the comparatively modest sum of 630,000 francs, Magnusson was sold to Marseille.
His partnership with the Croatian goal machine Josip Skoblar, begun in the 1969/70 season, continued to blossom. With their two foreign recruits leading the line, Marseille surged to their first league title in 23 years in the 1970/71 season, thanks largely to Skoblar's magnificent haul of 44 goals. Magnusson had been the supplier for many of these.
The following season proved to be the zenith of this first great l'OM side since the war. They won a league and cup double, the first in their history. It perhaps helped their cause that their involvement in the European Cup was brief - they were overpowered by Johan Cruyff's rampant Ajax in the second round.
The French Cup final of 1972 was probably the highlight of Magnusson's career, in more ways than one. Held at the newly refurbished Parc des Princes (where the competition showpiece would stay until the 1998 World Cup), it attracted the largest crowd which that venue had ever seen, most of whom had travelled up from the south coast to cheer their heroes to a historic double.
Marseille's opponents in the final, Bastia, were no slouches. They had beaten Marseille twice in the league that season; two months earlier, at the Stade Velodrome, they had dented l'OM's championship run with a shock 2-0 home defeat. Up against the rugged Bastia left-back Jean-Claude Tosi, Magnusson admitted that he had barely touched the ball.
Now, in Paris, all was different. In the first half of the Cup final, with Marseille dominant in all sectors of the pitch, Magnusson was imperious. Beating Tosi and the other defenders at will, he essentially did what he pleased, and laid on the first goal for his left-wing partner Didier Couécou with an insidious cross from the right.
The second half saw Marseille go into their shell somewhat, with Bastia launching plenty of attacks of their own, driven on by their New Caledonian forward Marc-Kanyan Case. On 73 minutes, however, came a moment which has gone down in l'OM folklore.
Receiving the ball from Jacques Novi, Magnusson provided ten seconds of pure brilliance, bamboozling Tosi and the Bastia captain Georges Franceschetti before sending in a cross for his colleague, Skoblar, to head the ball in for Marseille's second. It was the apotheosis of the celebrated Skoblar-Magnusson partnership.
Franceschetti scored an excellent headed goal five minutes from the close, but it was too late for the Corsicans: Marseille had their coveted double.
The future looked bright for both club and player. Still only 27, Magnusson could look forward to another crack at the European Cup, and perhaps a renewal of his national team career, as Sweden headed into the 1974 qualifying series.
But the Swede-abroad curse struck again when a greedy, short-sighted decision by the Marseille management put an end to the club's early-seventies success. To be concluded in Part 5.
