Grégory Coupet warming up with Anthony Lopes (Photo by ROMAIN LAFABREGUE / AFP)
Former coach of Anthony Lopes, Grégory Coupet admitted his incomprehension regarding the situation of his protégé between 2018 and 2020.
If the subject was debated at the start of the season, it has now been several weeks since the name of Anthony Lopes is no longer mentioned at press conferences. The goalkeeper still trains with the professional group, but he is not taken into consideration when establishing the hierarchy behind Lucas Perri.
A case that concerns his former trainer, Grégory Coupet. From 2018 to 2020, the former Olympique Lyonnais goalkeeper took over from the iconic Joël Bats. He then took care of the Rhone footballer. “Antho's situation completely escapes me, I don't understand. What I see is that he has gone from being an icon of the club, a full-fledged starter, to nothing. It was swept away in one go, with total indifference and without anyone stepping up to the plate, he regretted in But! Football Club. It's just mind-boggling. No need to draw a picture of the evolution of the world of football…”
“However, he was ready to fight sportingly“
The one who also passed through the staff of Dijon and Bordeaux denounces the conditions of this sidelining. “I have nothing against Perri. But who spoke to Antho at the start of the season, eye to eye, to tell him that there wouldn't even be any competition on a sporting level? Person. I mean no one, he said. However, he was ready to fight sportingly, no problem. He would have tried by all means to regain his number 1 place. But that's not at all what happened.”
At the end of his contract at the end of the 2024-2025 financial year, Lopes will not be retained this winter. After 489 matches under the tunic of OL, the end of the story will not live up to the mark he will leave in the Rhône.
