Do you still think that the presence of the Brestois stadium in the Champions League is “bad news” for French football?
(He bursts out laughing) So, already, I fully accept what I said last season but I think it was misunderstood. Of course, that makes Brest a little detractor, but not at all! My vision of things is that the big cars – which have 4, 5 or 10 times the budget of Brest – must finish in front of Stade Brestois. The anomaly is there. This means that these teams are not working well and that is why it is not good news for French football! As for the people of Brest, they totally deserve what is happening to them. They were fantastic under pressure to secure their place in Europe. So congratulations to them!
Seeing them in the Champions League was unthinkable not so long ago, but what can we say about their ten points taken after four days?
It’s unimaginable what they achieve! We are all pleasantly surprised but it shows what a club that works well. And then there is a story in Brest, and it's not me who is going to say the opposite: it's one of the stadiums that I discovered with my dad when I was little. One of the first professional clubs I saw was Brest Armorique at the time, because my mother is Breton. His whole family is between Quimper and Brest, and so I always went on certain holidays, especially in August, to see the matches in Brest. So to say that I am anti-Brestois, not at all!
There are two thoughts to have. The first, already, is that they have reached the level, that they manage to transcend themselves in these matches and so much the better, because it is still the big problem of many French clubs in the Coupe d'. Europe. They are already qualified for the 16th round – although you still have to be careful with the new formula – which is remarkable after four days. Like all football lovers, I can't wait to see what happens in the 16th round, because those are emotional matches. The other is that we realize that the level of the Champions League, with many more places today and this different format, means that there are teams who would never have been in the Champions League a few years ago. But once again, I don't want to take anything away from the merit of the people of Brest, what they are achieving is fantastic.
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