He knows the Corons by heart. When he was younger, he had fallen in love with Bollaert, his passionate audience, and this blood-and-gold jersey that he has proudly worn since February. Six months after leaving Angers for Mainz, Angelo Fulgini signed Lens this winter. A dream he tells us, exclusively, before finding the SCO, this Saturday (9 p.m.).
Does seeing Angers at the gates of Ligue 2 affect you?
ANGEL FULGINI. It’s a bit strange for me to find them in this context. I’m sad. Angers is the club that helped me to be where I am. I discovered Ligue 1 there, it was there that I was able to show what I was worth. I will always be indebted to this club. I am in contact with quite a few players, whether (Souleyman) Doumbia, (Nabil) Bentaleb, (Now) Thioub ou (Batista) Mendy. We talked a bit, but I will have to focus on me and the team, ignoring what is happening to them. I can’t wait to face my former teammates. They were all happy to see me come back to France this winter, especially to Lens, because it’s a team that corresponds more to my game.
Could this shipwreck be foreseen?
Plan, no. In football, things go fast… It’s difficult to part with your executives, important players with a lot of experience, as they did last summer. When you lose almost all your experienced players, when you start a season with a new group, we can imagine that you are going to go through complicated times. There have always been good players who have arrived. This time it didn’t take. This is the story of a season.
The fans shouted their anger during the last match, did you see the images?
I saw them… We can understand them. Even if the players don’t do it on purpose, it’s normal for the fans to break down and demand accountability from the management and the club. It’s a shame because they are still good supporters. They have always been there during my five years at the club (2017-2022), they have always supported us even when things were not going well. I wonder how we got there. It’s unfortunate to see that this season has gone wrong. When, like me, you have spent so much time in a club, you cannot be insensitive.
We weren’t necessarily expecting you in Lens this winter. And you ?
For me too, it was a big and nice surprise. It happened at the very end of the transfer window. Greg (Thil, technical director) called me around 6 p.m. At the time of the phone call, I was leaving training, my mother and my father were at home. They came to see the cup match the next day against Bayern. I told them that Lens wanted to position itself. They were thrilled, they prayed for it to happen. I did not hesitate for a second. The North is where I grew up, it’s where my mother lives (at Evin Malmaison in Pas-de-Calais). It’s kind of my adopted region. Every vacation, I came back. When I was younger, I went to see matches in Lens, I was in love with the stadium. It was my mother’s old friend who brought me here. We were in the Trannin stand. I remember, it was the first time I saw the players so close. There was Thomert, Dindane, Utaka, Hilton, Cousin. It’s impressive. The public too. To be able to play here under the colors of Lensoise is magical.
What emotions do we feel when we play in this cauldron?
When you are a player, you realize the atmosphere when you enter the field. You disregard once the kick-off has been given, you stay in your bubble, and at half-time there are the Corons. It hits me every time. You’re knocked out and just happy to be there. This atmosphere, we do not realize, but it is really a plus for the players. It transcends you and gives you extra energy.
It seems that you come home to eat at your mother’s almost every evening. Is it a little ritual between you?
I take advantage that she is there, not very far, because since I left Valenciennes, I didn’t see her much. In Germany, the same. There, she lives 20 minutes away, so I try to eat with my family: my mother, my sisters, my grandnephews and nieces. She makes me the dishes I like, dishes from home that I ate when I was little, like Bougna (a traditional dish from New Caledonia). I have a sister who does Bami very well too. Food level, I’m spoiled (laughs).
Do you feel this need to get closer to your loved ones?
It’s always good to be with the family, to get away from football after training, to forget a little about the pressure of everyday life. My mother, as well as almost all my family, was there for my first match (against Nantes). I saw the pride in her eyes, she was happy that I was with her. Making her proud is the best thing. She likes football, she likes going to the stadium. When I was in Germany, she saw several matches in Lens. Now she can come and in addition she sees me on the pitch.
Why was the marriage with Lens not done before?
I had the opportunity to sign there younger before going to Valenciennes. I must have been 12-13, but I chose VA because a friend, Jordan Lepage, was going there. I wanted to follow him. When Lens came up three years ago, the coach (Franck Haise) called me to join the team, but I had chosen to stay in Angers. Finally, I arrive three years later. We will say that it was written.
With hindsight, was signing in Mainz (Bundesliga) last summer a good choice?
When I make a choice, I do not regret. In football, sometimes things go well. Sometimes not. I have no regrets or resentment, that’s how it is. It was not a game that suited me. We played in the same system as in Lens, but the style and the principles were completely different. We jumped the circles a lot. It was a lot of play without the ball, for me it was a bit complicated. Despite these six months where I haven’t played much, I take away something positive. I improved defensively, tactically, and in terms of intensity too, because there are a lot of them there.
The anthem of the Champions League has not resounded in the enclosure of Bollaert for 20 years. Do you dream of it?
Of course it’s dreamy. We all want to play in the Champions League, even more so with a club you love like this. It would be wonderful. But there are still a lot of matches. We must continue to do what we know how to do, to play as we did in Clermont (last weekend: 4-0). We will do everything to try to make this dream come true.
