Cédric Carrasso

Cédric Carrasso

Carrasso with training with Bordeaux in 2009.
Personal information
Full name	Cédric Carrasso[1]
Date of birth	(1981-12-30) 30 December 1981[2]
Place of birth	Avignon, France
Height	1.87 m (6 ft 1 1⁄2 in)[3]
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current team	Bordeaux
Number	16
Youth career
1998–1999	Avignon
1999–2001	Marseille
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2001–2008	Marseille	59	(0)
2001–2002	→ Crystal Palace (loan)	1	(0)
2004–2005	→ Guingamp (loan)	26	(0)
2008–2009	Toulouse	37	(0)
2009–	Bordeaux	177	(0)
National team‡
2009–2013	France	1	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17 August 2014. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 19:58, 5 June 2013 (UTC)

Cédric Carrasso (French pronunciation: ​[sedʁik kaʁaso]; born 30 December 1981) is a French footballer, who currently plays as a goalkeeper for Bordeaux. He has also played for the French national team.

Club career

Marseille

Carrasso joined the Marseille youth system at the age of thirteen and, despite leaving for Avignon for one year in 1998, it was there that he signed his first professional contract. Before he had a chance to play for the first team, he was loaned out to Crystal Palace for the 2001–02 season, where he only got to play one match. Upon his return to Marseille, Carraso made his debut for Marseille in a 2–0 win over Montpellier on 2 November 2002, where he got his first clean sheet in his professional debut and later on he replaced Vedran Runje for a couple of games, but seriously injured himself in an exhibition match against France 98 and was sidelined for the whole of the 2003–04 season. He was then loaned out again, this time to Guingamp, for the following season, and there he became the number one keeper for the first time in his career.

When he returned to Marseille, Carrasso was ask to fill in during Fabien Barthez's long ban. His performances were deemed impressive enough for him to retain the starting keeper position for the 2006–07 season and force Barthez to leave the club. On 9 October 2005, Carrasso signed a new contract which will keep him until 2009.^[4] In the second leg of UEFA Cup on 16 March 2006 against Zenit Saint Petersburg leading 1–0 in the first leg, Carrasso received a red card in his Marseille career on a 90th minutes as the result was 1–1 which means Zenit Saint Petersburg won 2–1 on aggregate. Carraso remained as a first choice goalkeeper for Marseille until on 22 August 2007, however, Carrasso injured his left Achilles tendon, which ruled him out for six months. During that time, Steve Mandanda stepped in and, when Carrasso finally returned, Eric Gerets informed him that he would be but the number two goalkeeper from then on.

Toulouse

Carrasso with Toulouse in 2008.

Unwilling to spend another season on the bench, Carrasso joined FC Toulouse for the 2008–09 season. In Toulouse, he had the difficult task of replacing Nicolas Douchez who had left for Rennes that same summer. On 10 August 2008, Carrasso made his debut for Toulouse in a 3–0 loss against Olympique Lyonnais. Despite the lost in his first match, Carrasso still remained as a first choice goalkeeper ahead of Sébastien Hamel and Olivier Blondel. He did so with flying colours, Toulouse finishing with the best defence of the league that year, with only 27 goals conceded. Carrasso also has a total of clean sheet of 19 in the league.

Bordeaux

His performances attracted the attention of defending champions Bordeaux, who needed a replacement for the iconic but ageing Ulrich Ramé,emblematic of the club goalkeeper late career and who signed him on 30 June for a fee of €8 million.^[5] Following his move to Bordeaux, Carrasso told L’Equipe that his move to Bordeaux is now relishing the prospect of facing Champions League football with reigning Ligue 1 champion Bordeaux. Carrasso also told L'Equpe:

“Working with Ulrich, a person of great experience, will be a great pleasure. Moreover, he will be a guide for me on a day-to-day basis and getting to know the club.There has been much discussion on the causes of my transfer, but what I want to say is that I have never had any problems or disputes with Toulouse and is just a career choice that was made. I know that for goalkeeping positions, few places are made available. Given the motivation and the desire expressed by the leaders of the club who are champions of France, I could not miss the opportunity. For me, Bordeaux is a very big European club who have ambitions in the Champions League.”^[6]

In his first season, Carrasso made his debut for Bordeaux in 4–1 win over Lens on 9 August 2009 and has a total of clean sheet of 29 in the league. Also in his first season, Carrasso in his second season, Carrasso was in goal that he conceded 5 goal heavily against Lorient in a 5–1 loss on 19 February 2012 and worse for Carrasso was given a straight red card in stoppage time^[7] and missed one match ban. This was Carrasso second sending off against Lorient on a 76th minutes during his time at Guingamp on 20 September 2004 when Lorient and Guingamp drew one all. During his one match ban, veteran goalkeeper Ramé (who replaced by Carrasso as a first choice goalkeeper) provided a cover for him. Next match, Carrasso return to action against Brest in a 3–1 win on 6 March 2011. His consistent performances with Bordeaux linked from club who interested signing him but instead led the staff to offer him a new contract running until 2015, saying he's committed to Bordeaux 100 per cent.^[8] In his third season on 17 September 2011, Bordeaux were winning 2–0 at half time against his former club Toulouse but in the second half, Toulouse managed a 3–2 comeback win for them but on the 75th minutes, Carrasoo received a red card after tackling Franck Tabanou and was replaced by youngster Abdoulaye Keita. Keita was a blame when he conceded a late winner from Emmanuel Rivière scoring a winning to make it 3–2.^[9] Once again, Carrasso miss one match ban so and instead of Keita playing, newly goalkeeper Kévin Olimpa took his place and made his debut against Lille in a 1–1. After one match ban served, Carrasso returned in action against Lyon and lost 3–1 on 24 September 2010.

International career

Thanks to excellent performances with Toulouse, Carrasso received his first call-up for the French national team for a friendly against Argentina on 11 February 2009. After that, he was called up for every subsequent France game by Raymond Domenech, but always in the quality of third keeper behind Hugo Lloris and Steve Mandanda. He was included in the squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup,^[10] but injured himself in training and Stéphane Ruffier was called up the fill in as third keeper. However, FIFA denied France's request for this replacement and Carrasso remained the official third keeper despite Ruffier being the one training with the French group.

When Laurent Blanc took over as the French manager, he also took to calling up Carrasso as his third keeper for every game (apart for the friendly against Norway for which none of the 23 participants to the World Cup were called up). Carrasso made his debut in the friendly game against Poland on 8 June 2011.

When Didier Deschamps became the new French head coach, he dropped Carrasso from the French squad. He has not received a national team call up since February 2012, and it is unlikely that Carrasso will play again for France.

Personal life

His younger brother, Johann, plays as a goalkeeper for Rennes.

He is married and has one daughter, Léana.

Honours

Bordeaux

• Trophée Des Champions: 2009
• Coupe de France: 2012–13

References

External links

• Cédric Carrasso French league stats at LFP.fr (French)

France squads France squad – 2010 FIFA World Cup 1 Lloris 2 Sagna 3 Abidal 4 Réveillère 5 Gallas 6 Planus 7 Ribéry 8 Gourcuff 9 Cissé 10 Govou 11 Gignac 12 Henry 13 Evra (c) 14 Toulalan 15 Malouda 16 Mandanda 17 Squillaci 18 Diarra 19 Diaby 20 Valbuena 21 Anelka 22 Clichy 23 Carrasso Coach: Domenech France squad – UEFA Euro 2012 1 Lloris (c) 2 Debuchy 3 Evra 4 Rami 5 Mexès 6 Cabaye 7 Ribéry 8 Valbuena 9 Giroud 10 Benzema 11 Nasri 12 Matuidi 13 Réveillère 14 Ménez 15 Malouda 16 Mandanda 17 M'Vila 18 Diarra 19 Martin 20 Ben Arfa 21 Koscielny 22 Clichy 23 Carrasso Coach: Blanc