Former French International Marcel Desailly says he worked hard to overcome a lot of challenges in order to maintain the high prominence he earned in his football career.

Marcel Desailly was born as Odenke Abbey in Accra to Ghanaian parents but he had his name changed when his mother married the head of the French Consulate, who adopted all of her children. The family relocated to France where Desailly took giant steps to become one of the best centre-backs in football history till date.

Desailly went ahead to play for France and made history as they hosted and won the World Cup in 1998. Prior to that feat he united with Ghana’s football maestro, Abedi Ayew Pele, to win the UEFA Champions League with Olympique Marseille before adding another two years after with A.C Milan in 1994.

Despite having an illustrious career for two decades, Marcel Desailly holds a different view about the perception that football made life easy for him.

“People have the perception that football is very easy, just go there and win some money. They have to know that I entered into the academy when I was 13 years and I have been training hard and I have been facing all the challenges,” he said during an exclusive interview on Sports Check .

The former Chelsea captain revealed to Ghanaweb’s Editor Daniel Oduro that his journey to greatness was not an easy mountain to climb and attributes all his success to hard work.

The 49 year old continued, “when I made it as a professional I had to work very very hard with a bit of luck also to maintain and stay at that level and luckily I have been a successful player.”

Marcel Desailly returned to Ghana after calling off his 20-year career and has built an ultra-modern sports facility named ‘Lizzy Sports Complex’ to help nurture football legends for the country.