Rodolphe Michaux-Tapie confides to RMC Sport his emotion and his gratitude after the tribute paid by the Vélodrome to his grandfather Bernard Tapie during OM-Lorient, this Sunday, at the end of the 10th day of Ligue 1 (4- 1).
Rodolphe Michaux-Tapie, how did you feel when you saw your son Hugo kick off?
A lot of emotion. It makes me happy, it reminded me of 1993, when my grandfather let me kick off. It was an OM-Lens, the first day of the championship. Twenty-eight years later, my son does it with me … it’s huge. Much emotion for me and especially for him, he was impressed in the middle of it all. When you see the love that the supporters have given us since October 3, it gives us incredible strength. We have no words.
We saw your son running towards Dimitri Payet …
Payet has been the idol of Hugo (his son, editor’s note) for a few years. He is only 7 years old, I have made him follow football since he was 2-3 years old. Payet … there is this famous match against Leipzig that we won 5-3. He heard “Payet! Payet!” non stop. He’s a fan. He asked me if he could run into his arms. And he ran.
“From up there, he must be proud of what’s going on”
How does it feel to see these tributes from the Vélodrome for your grandfather Bernard Tapie?
The “We are the champions” in 1993, I was only 6 years old. But to see him again in the Vélodrome, with these magnificent tifos, a whole bend that makes the image of my grandfather with the star, the three stripes. They give us so much love … we inevitably have a lot of sadness but this emotion goes above the sadness that we have. We have the impression of being adopted by these people that we also love so much, whereas at the base, we are nobody, we are like them. I am a subscriber to the north bend, we are like them. See that we are respected, that they love us … Thursday before the funeral, they hugged us. I can only thank them.
Does this love for your grandfather make you feel good?
We feel that there is a real popular union around what happened, everyone has come together. It helps us on a daily basis. We lost a loved one we loved. Seeing all this emotion, this love they give us … we came out of the funeral, we didn’t even want to cry, it was so beautiful. It helps us on a daily basis. Thanks to them, we can overcome this ordeal. And then life goes on. From there, he must be very proud of everything that is happening, of the love they give us.