Genesio (Lille) scandalized by the scheduling of the Lille-Lens derby

“It’s scandalous”thundered Lille coach Bruno Genesio in a press conference on Thursday regarding the scheduling of the derby against Lens on Saturday October 26, only three days after a trip to Madrid in the Champions League. “There is an irresponsibility,” Genesio said. “I know the clichés when people say that we have to pay attention to the health of the players: yes, we are well paid, we have an extraordinary job, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have the right to say certain things that are inherent to all jobs. Playing in Monaco (Friday, October 18 at 8:45 p.m., Editor’s note), in Madrid (to face Atlético on Wednesday, October 23 at 9:00 p.m., Editor’s note) and in Lens, it’s scandalous.”

This scheduling is probably explained by Nice’s trip to Budapest to play Ferencvaros in the Europa League on Thursday October 24 (6:45 p.m.), just before the ninth day of Ligue 1, which pushes back the scheduling of Nice-Monaco to Sunday 27 (5:00 p.m.), before a third major fixture, Marseille-Paris the same day at 9:00 p.m. “But when we make a calendar, we know that there are these three matches, so instead of putting the three on the ninth day, let’s put two on the ninth day, and one on the tenth, if we have a bit of footballer’s thinking,” retorted Bruno Genesio.

The 58-year-old coach went on to criticise the pace of the football calendar: “We can think a little about the players, who are the essential players in football, because without players, there is no TV, no coach, no referee, no president of the League, there is nothing!” Before you get sarcastic: “Maybe in Madrid we will go with a reserve team to save ourselves for the derby, and then we will be criticized for not playing the Champions League to the full…”

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