Former Juventus defender and current sporting director of Olympique de Marseille, Mehdi Benatia provides his advice in Italy to thwart Bruno Genesio's plans. His LOSC opposes the Old Lady this Tuesday.
This is an unprecedented confrontation. LOSC and Juventus face each other this Tuesday, November 5 (9 p.m.) on the pitch of the Decathlon Arena – Stade Pierre Mauroy as part of the fourth day of the Champions League league phase. At the forefront of Lille's exploits which he observes with one eye, he is today part of the management team of Olympique de Marseille, Mehdi Benatia plays double agent by divulging some of his secrets to the press transalpines. The latter recently spoke with
Tuttosportexplaining the strong points of the Mastiffs. In his eyes, Juventus “can prevail” and will have to rely on “his mentality”the one that made its DNA during the era of Chiellini, Barzagli, Marchisio, Buffon… for “scare your opponent” and shine on the European scene.
“It’s a very deep group”
The Marseille leader begins his description while the Italian press questions the true value of LOSC, capable of defeating Real and Atlético de Madrid:
“Well, they’re a good team. She had a little trouble at the start of the season, but has since recovered: she has great team spirit and excellent quality players. I'm thinking of David, of course, of Zhegrova, and of Angel Gomes who is also very important for Lille's game. They lost Thiago Santos to injury, a very strong right back, and they will miss him, but for what they have shown so far, they are capable of putting any team in difficulty. Juventus will have to be very careful with Genesio's team.”begins Mehdi Benatia, aware that the upcoming meeting will not be a cakewalk for the Bianconeri.
He continues his analysis by discussing the individual strengths of LOSC: “There is Sahraoui, the very technical offensive winger who is good in one on one, there is Zhegrova, who has a lot of quality and always shoots with the left foot, there is Angel Gomes in midfield, he has 24 years old and was from Manchester United, he sets up maneuvers and plays. I repeat, this is a deep group despite the fact that they sold central defender Leny Yoro to United this summer for 60 million »he says.
“Bruno Genesio is very respected in France”
Mehdi Benatia then focuses on Jonathan David, already the author of twelve goals in all competitions this season:
“I would mark him as a department, not just a man. He is physically strong: he is not very big, but powerful. It loves to go deep, but it's not bad even on narrow trails. He can play as a lone center forward or with a second striker next to him, but his particularity is his thirst for goals: he is impressive, over the last two seasons he has always reached 26 goals. It’s a lot because he has great flair”assures the Olympian leader.
The final word is for Bruno Genesio, a technician that Mehdi Benatia holds in high esteem: “Genesio is a very experienced coach, he arrived in Lille this summer and it took him a month to understand the men he had available and fix the team. He works very well, like when he was at Lyon: he is a very respected coach in France. He prefers an attacking game, but knows how to adapt to the opponent, he generally starts with 4-2-3-1, but changes formation during the match depending on the needs, several times to try to press higher”,
concludes the sporting director of Olympique de Marseille, who will face LOSC during the month of December in Ligue 1.
