Before going on the benches, Olivier Echouafni was a key player in the mid -90s and 2000s, passed in particular by Marseille, Strasbourg, Rennes then Nice, where he played more than 200 games in seven seasons. Finalist of the League Cup in 2006 with the gym, the former environment gives us his gaze on this end of the hot season for the Aiglons.
You were born in Menton, you wore the colors of Nice and Rennes … Does this match between your two former clubs speak to you in a particular way?
Already, they have the same jersey colors. (Laughs) I spent a little less time in Rennes than in Nice, since I played three years there. In Nice, I stayed there almost a decade, counting the time spent at the level of management, after my career. So yes, necessarily, it’s a particular match. When you have played in both clubs, you know the environments, expectations and today, ambitions.
Rennes, this season, is a bit behind because they have changed their coach. The results were not what they could have been, given the workforce they have. Conversely, Nice is in the European battle. Which was not necessarily the case a few years ago. The club has grown up, it has evolved. And today, due to its standing, it must almost be European each season.
Nice is still in the race for the Champions League. Do you think the team has the profile to exist at this level, or is it still a little early?
I think you shouldn’t imagine what will happen next. Any player, any club, wants to finish as high as possible. Because it shows regularity throughout a season. Does Nice deserves to go to the Champions League? We will know after the last two games.
But beware, they will have a delicate and difficult match despite everything in Rennes, for several reasons. Rennes has just made a non-match, but it’s his last at Roazhon Park this season. They will want to finish on a good note. And in contrast, Nice is obliged to win if they want to hope to be in the Champions League. It is so tight that it may be playing the goal-long.
Where do you think can be made?
Above all, I have the impression that we have a very mobilized team, in this case Nice. Faced with another which is less so, because it has nothing more to play. The problem is there. It will be played on this ability to make the efforts, together, and until the end. I am not convinced that Stade Rennais, given its season, is ready for that.
Nice has made a solid season, despite some hollows this winter. How do you judge the work accomplished by Franck Haise since his arrival?
The injuries are part of a season. A coach is above all someone who adapts. Franck achieves incredible things. What he tried to set up in Lens, he tries to put it in Nice, with own qualities, its workforce and its environment.
Me, what he does in his first season, I find it remarkable. To know him a little, I know that he is someone passionate, who loves his group. He wants to make him take the most beautiful. We are not yet talking about a title, but a place in C1, it would be enormous. As much as they were picked up a few days ago, as much there, they recovered well in it. And then, thanks to the missteps of each other, they returned. That’s what’s beautiful.
You were finalist of the League Cup in 2006 with Nice. Can we make a parallel with this end of the season at stake?
I think you should not calculate or ask questions. We, at the time, lost the final in our heads from the semi-final in Monaco. We let ourselves be embarked by the euphoria, by the 30,000 Niçois who went up to Paris … Result: we miss our first half. And it was very hard to come back next.
You have to get out of the event. You have to play with your qualities, without thwarting. At this point, it is the mind that makes the difference. Because organisms are tired.
