101 international matches on the clock, a World Cup, two European Championships and a UEFA Cup final, Gilles Veissiere was the benchmark for French refereeing in the 90s/2000s. Veissiere had the privilege of refereeing the return derby between Inter and Milan in the Champions League semi-finals in 2003. He opened the memory box for Le Figaro and the anecdotes are crisp.
- You refereed in the World Cup (2002), at the Euro (2000 and 2004), but also in a UEFA Cup final in 2001. Was your appointment for this semi-final second leg special for you?
- It is an important appointment because it was the first Milanese derby in history. It was a big responsibility. If you are put on a match like that, it is because you are judged capable of doing it, so it is true that the appointment was important, but after that it is not enough to be appointed, you have to perform. It was a special match with the great Moratti on one side and the great Berlusconi on the other side. They were, at the time, important citadels of world football. These people played their power; it was not the same football. They did not play the same thing. There, they were two great personalities from Italy and Europe.
- How do you prepare for such a match? Do you try to keep our routine, or do you have to insist on details, be more vigilant on certain aspects?
- The trap was the first leg. I suspected that there would be no match (note: 0-0) and that's what happened. I watched it on TV, which I rarely do, but I needed to get into the mood a little bit. The trap was that both teams thought the 0-0 was a good result and that they would sort it out on the return. But what Inter had misjudged was that on the return, if Milan scored, the goal was worth double. They played a sterile match in the first leg, and I said to myself the return is hell. I had prepared myself to act in relation to the result of the first leg. The 0-0 didn't make it easy for me. However, I have not changed my preparation. With my coach, I prepared the same way. Mentally, I tried to be as hermetic as possible because I knew it would be complicated and it was.
- Since the match was a double, with only six days between the two legs, should you have watched the first leg?
- I had watched it without knowing that I was going to referee the return. But I knew that I will referee a semi-final second leg. Out of my 101 international matches, I refereed 60-65 in southern Europe, so I knew I was being used in those tough matches (e.g., Portugal, Greece, Italy). I suspected that if I would receive a semi-final, it might be this one. So, I had watched the game out of curiosity and the next day I received the phone call telling me that I was appointed for the second leg.
- What are your memories of this important match?
- It was an extraordinary match with an atmosphere of madness. The managers had told me that there were nearly a million ticket requests for an 80,000-seat stadium. A little anecdote about this match. UEFA asks the referee to start on time. The delegate puts pressure on you because he is in direct contact with Switzerland and therefore you have to start to the nearest second (note: kick-off scheduled for 9 p.m.), but we were not entering the field. The tunnel was a cathedral, the players didn't make a sound, nothing. At 9:02 p.m., I was told there was a technical problem. I told myself that there might be a problem with the transmission and, all of a sudden, there is a stir in the tunnel. We see Silvio Berlusconi arriving. I turn around and he says to me: “There is a lot of traffic tonight in Milan”. We had delayed the match because Berlusconi had not arrived at the stadium. That tells you the power of some men at that time in football.
- You awarded 5 yellow cards in this match, 4 of which were close together at the end of the first half. Was that a time when you had to keep control of the match?
- There was fire. And I couldn't catch Materazzi. When I watched the match again, Materazzi made a mess of everything. At the corners, he was in all the wrong moves defensively and offensively, but I never caught him. It's crazy. On the other side, you have Inzaghi in the penalty area and you never know if there is a foul or not. You have poison on one side and plague on the other. It was hell.
- You whistled the end of the match on a situation near the Milan penalty area while Inter was pushing. The Inter players collapse and the Milanese run towards their supporters. Do you remember this moment?
- Honestly, no. I suffered so much. Of the 101 international matches I have refereed; this was the toughest match. I refereed difficult ones but not hard ones. This one was hard because there was nothing against refereeing, but the players were under so much pressure that they didn't calculate anything. Victory was what they were looking for the most. There was no lucidity. I remember talking to Gennaro Gattuso, with whom I had a very cordial relationship, who apologized to me because he had been terrible all game. He told me: “It was too important that we win for the supporters, the Milanese people, the president. We had pressure like we have never had”. There was really no lucidity on either side; performance was imperative. But Milan's goal, before half-time, saved me a bit because it forced Inter to play. Until the 80th minute it was fine, but as soon as Inter equalized then it was Fort Alamo. At the end, I was finished.
I'm going to tell you a secret. It was in 2003 and I was competing for my place to represent France at Euro 2004. The observer was German Volker Roth, who was the big boss of the UEFA referees. A man of total integrity, a person of high moral quality. Volker Roth came into the locker room at the end of the game as I was sitting stoned. When you have a match like that, you know you're finished. Volker Roth asked me if we can talk, then he closed the locker room. He sits down and says to me: “The mark is not beautiful because, technically, a lot of things are missing”. I knew that I was in SOS on several occasions, especially at corners. Materazzi pulled Inzaghi who fell. But when you referee a semi-final like this, you have to know that afterward there is the final. If you caution a player, you might take away his final. When you award a card, you have to be 100% sure and everyone is in agreement because otherwise the player loses a European Cup final. The referees of the semi-finals have the greatest responsibility. It is true that in this match I tried not to caution players. Volker Roth continues: “Going down the stairs, as soon as I met a leader from Inter or Milan, everyone praised the refereeing. So, they must be right; I forget my bad mark, I forget my comments and I congratulate you.” It was class because, theoretically and tactically, I had perhaps not made the match I needed to do, but in the end everyone was happy. I thus won my place for the Euro thanks to the enthusiasm of everyone.
Source: Le Figaro