Marco GRASSI

Marco Grassi signed for Rennes in the Summer of 1994, a few weeks at the Red and Blacks returned to the top flight, and a few days before the start of the season. The Swiss centre forward was hired to compensate for the departures of Roux and Musisi, who had scored 15 goals between them in the promotion season. In his first match at Rennes, Grassi was in the starting line-up and scored the second Rennes goal. This beautiful story began with an explosive attacking line-up where André, Gourvennec, Le Pen and Wiltord helped Marco to score 16 goals, of which three consecutive braces at home in April and May 1995. The fan’s favourite confirmed his hero’s status in the 1995/1996 season, with a memorable hat-trick against Guingamp in the clubs’ first meeting in the top flight (3-0). As the season went on, however, his excellent aerial game, and his positional sense were better dealt with by opposition defences, and he got stuck on 12 goals. The Swiss international left Rennes in 1996, signing for Monaco in a 6 Million Euro deal.