Éric Sylvain Abidal (born 11 September 1979) is a French footballer who plays as a left or central defender for FC Barcelona and the France national team.
Abidal was trained at Lyon-Duchère, a team playing in the suburbs of Lyon. He started his professional career with Monaco on 16 September 2000, where he made 25 first-team appearances. He moved to Lille OSC where he was reunited with his former manager Claude Puel and earned 62 first-team appearances. At the end of 2004, he returned to his native region by joining Olympique Lyonnais, which had just won its second successive Ligue 1 championship. During his time in France he was considered "one of the best fullbacks in the Ligue 1", self confidence of this title was shown when Lyon played Manchester United: "As a defender, my aim is to infuriate the opponent," Abidal explained. "I want him to be so sick of the sight of me that he has to move somewhere else on the pitch to get away." In the Lyon defence, he played alongside other French internationals (Grégory Coupet, François Clerc, and Anthony Réveillère) and two Brazilian internationals (Cris and Caçapa).
On 17 January 2007, Abidal scored the first goal of his career in a 1–0 Lyon victory over Le Mans on a 2006–07 Coupe de la Ligue semi–final match. Later the same year, on 30 June, Abidal moved to FC Barcelona for €9 million, after repeatedly stating that he would not return to training if he did not get the move, signing a four-year contract and taking the #22 jersey, as the #20 he wore at Lyon was already taken by Deco. Barça president Joan Laporta also mentioned that Abidal's contract would contain a €90 million release clause, and that Lyon would receive an extra €500,000 if Barcelona win the Champions League in any of the next four seasons.
Abidal was trained at Lyon-Duchère, a team playing in the suburbs of Lyon. He started his professional career with Monaco on 16 September 2000, where he made 25 first-team appearances. He moved to Lille OSC where he was reunited with his former manager Claude Puel and earned 62 first-team appearances. At the end of 2004, he returned to his native region by joining Olympique Lyonnais, which had just won its second successive Ligue 1 championship. During his time in France he was considered "one of the best fullbacks in the Ligue 1", self confidence of this title was shown when Lyon played Manchester United: "As a defender, my aim is to infuriate the opponent," Abidal explained. "I want him to be so sick of the sight of me that he has to move somewhere else on the pitch to get away." In the Lyon defence, he played alongside other French internationals (Grégory Coupet, François Clerc, and Anthony Réveillère) and two Brazilian internationals (Cris and Caçapa).
On 17 January 2007, Abidal scored the first goal of his career in a 1–0 Lyon victory over Le Mans on a 2006–07 Coupe de la Ligue semi–final match. Later the same year, on 30 June, Abidal moved to FC Barcelona for €9 million, after repeatedly stating that he would not return to training if he did not get the move, signing a four-year contract and taking the #22 jersey, as the #20 he wore at Lyon was already taken by Deco. Barça president Joan Laporta also mentioned that Abidal's contract would contain a €90 million release clause, and that Lyon would receive an extra €500,000 if Barcelona win the Champions League in any of the next four seasons.
