“You have to enjoy the moment, have as much fun as possible in the Champions League”

Foot Mercato: Julien what an end to the year for you!

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Julien Le Cardinal: well yeah, absolutely. It couldn’t be better, quote unquote. Afterwards, even if there was a slightly complicated little match in Lille recently. Plus, I’ve been playing a lot more lately, so it’s clear that the end of 2024 is great for me.

FM: two years ago, you played right back in Ligue 2, today, you are a starting central defender in Brest, you are playing in the Champions League, it’s a pretty incredible rise, isn’t it?

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JlC: Everything happened really, really quickly between those two years. It’s just happiness, you have to make the most of it. In fact, everything happened super fast. You see, two years ago, I didn’t even think I would have a child, I didn’t think I would be married and I clearly didn’t think I would play in the Champions League. In two years, my whole life has radically changed, both the football aspect and the other side aspects. There, I couldn’t be happier than I am today.

“In Lens, I really learned things that made me grow”

FM: What made your life change so quickly?

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JlC: I already think that it was a choice that helped me when I left Paris FC when I had the chance to sign for Lens. I think that’s where it all started. Discovering the high level in Lens, which was really on the roof of Ligue 1 when I signed there, was incredible, especially as this experience taught me a lot. So there you have it, I think it was this choice that started it all.

FM: precisely at RC Lens, you reached the very high level. So wasn’t that step too high at some point for you?

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JlC: so of course, I asked myself the question. Afterwards, even if I wasn’t at my real level, I wasn’t really playing my real position. But even though I didn’t play much at this club, I really learned a lot in a very short time. In nine months, I worked alongside a top coach and players who have experience, real life. In Lens, despite limited playing time, I really learned things that made me grow.

FM: you rubbed shoulders with Lens supporters too… Tell us…

JlC: yes (laughs), I don’t think I’ll ever experience that again. You go from Paris FC where there are maybe 2,000 people to 38,000 supporters, so yes, you see the difference. It’s exceptional to have experienced this moment and this permanent communion with the public.

FM: despite everything, the decision to leave was quickly made and Brest arrived…

JlC: initially, it’s not me who makes the decision. It was more Lens who told me that it would be good if I found a loan, because the club thought that as a piston, it was a little complicated for me. For my part, I agreed with this analysis. Since there was a hierarchy behind it and it was 3 players, I was the fifth, or even the sixth, so they told me “if you want to get some playing time, we open the door to you for a loan”. And then it happened very quickly with Brest, in the end, in two days. On the one hand, I could stay in Lens, but on the other, I also wanted to see something else and develop in my real position which is central defender.

FM: When you arrive in Brest, do you already feel that something is already happening in this club?

JlC: I felt it when I played my first match, my first group. I think my first group was against Lyon, I think we won 1-0 against them. And then you say to yourself wow, something is happening, there is really something. I think we’re first that night. As soon as you arrive, you see that the group is doing really well, there is a great atmosphere, there is a good working group, so you say to yourself “yeah, there’s definitely something to do here”.

FM: At the end of the season, what is your state of mind, staying in Brest or returning to Lens?

JlC: I quickly had the desire to stay in this club which is very family-friendly, which suits me a little more and it is not far from home, from my home too, so that also played a role, for the family which is next door (editor’s note: he comes from Saint-Brieuc), because family is important to me. So yes, I quickly wanted to stay at the club.

FM: did you expect to have so much playing time at the start of the season in Brest?

JlC: we must not forget that we still had a great start to the season, that we had to digest what happened last season. It was a little complicated at first, that’s for sure. Even I had trouble getting into it and since not many people had arrived, I continued to play. I always told myself there was a possibility. Personally, I never give myself limits and even if there hadn’t been a start, I would have tried to do everything to play because we play football to play, to watch others play.

“We want to win every match even if it’s Barcelona, ​​even if it’s any team.”

FM: do you feel today that the fact of playing one match after another in a positive dynamic is reflected in your performances?

JlC: it’s immediately simpler and you have the automations more quickly, that helps. It’s true that when you don’t play all the matches, it can quickly become complicated. You have to get back into it each time. So it’s true that when you play together, confidence comes naturally, you have more automatisms with the people you play with so I’m not going to deny that it did me good to play games together.

FM: in the end, you have a series of matches, you play in Barcelona, ​​against Lewandowski’s Barça, where you have a good match individually…

JlC: (he cuts) afterwards, you know, as a defender when you concede three goals against Barça, it’s not a good match. Afterwards yes, we will say that I was not bad in that match…

FM: we sense a lot of humility in your words. Because the general public minimizes your performances in the Champions League. But both for you and for Brest, each European match remains a discovery, right?

JlC: I think we all have a bit of the same mentality in the group, we all say to ourselves: “why put pressure on yourself, when we are playing matches that we dreamed of playing“. Putting pressure on yourself and, quote, losing your means a little, is ruining everything you’ve done before. Because, you went looking for this qualification, and you should say to yourself “oh, damn, we’re playing against Barça, we’re afraid of them”. But why? Well, we can’t find any reason to do that. You have to enjoy the moment, have as much fun as possible, even if when you take 3-0, obviously you don’t have too much fun (laughs). You have to look them in the face, and then say to yourself, these are 11 guys like us, so why should we lose our means? I think we all have a bit of the same mentality in the group, we want to win every match even if it’s Barcelona, ​​even if it’s any team.

FM: This is exactly the meaning of my next question, this flawless state of mind, your determination, is that what makes you so well placed in this Champions League championship?

JlC: that’s it, that’s it. As I just said, we enjoy the moment and then we don’t spoil everything by putting a kind of pressure on ourselves to say, that we are playing against a team which has always played in the Champions League, to already make it match in his head before it is played. We get our heads together, we play our game, we give our all. After we have given our all and we have wet our jerseys, if the result is negative at least, there will be no regrets and if it is positive, so much the better, we will have done the job.

“It’s also good for French football to show that the guys in France don’t have such a low level as that”

FM: Do you have the feeling that with your performances, your opponents look at you a little differently? For example, William Saliba from Arsenal said recently that he followed your career, and that he was proud to see that there were French clubs who gave their all?

JlC: yes it’s good that we recognize him, I didn’t even see that he had spoken about us. But yes, it’s good for French football too to show that the guys in France don’t have such a low level, which I’ve heard a lot. We must continue to have this freshness and this carefreeness in this competition.

FM: precisely after Lewandowski, Pedri & co, it is Mbappé, Vinicius and Bellingham who will come to Brest on January 29. Do you talk about it among yourselves or not?

JlC: No, no. It’s like every other match, we’ll talk about it when it’s time to talk about it. We no longer had our minds in Nantes, at the Coupe de France and all the matches that will happen before so no, we didn’t even talk about Real Madrid. We talked about it when there was the draw and we drew Real but since then, we haven’t talked about it. We will have to talk about this match when the time comes because if we put it in our heads now, we risk not focusing on what is most important for the moment, namely the championship.

FM: And so, taking the matches as they come, isn’t Ligue 1 more complicated to follow after a Champions League match than after an average match?

JlC: It’s true that perhaps unconsciously before Champions League matches, we think about it a little too much and then we repeat the match. But within the group, we don’t think like that, we try to stay focused as much as possible game after game. Obviously we would like to win every match, but unfortunately we can’t win them all…

“What is good in Brest is that there are no lazy people or players hiding”

FM: In Ligue 1, you are well placed in the middle of the table. At the start of the season, obviously, we doubted your ability to continue on both fronts, Ligue 1 plus C1 with a workforce far from being bloated. Do you feel like you’re in overdrive?

JlC: For the moment probably a little because we have a lot of injuries. But we have a good group and we saw that when there were absentees, those who replaced them did the job. Afterwards, I think it’s a question of mentality, it’s that the mentality of each player in this group is to give their all for their friends, for the club and above all to win. What’s good here is that there are no quote-unquote slackers, or players hiding. It’s a healthy group, they work and that’s perhaps why today, we manage to put out performances like that against Bayer Leverkusen or against PSV Eindhoven.

FM: to finish a little about you, about your personal case. At 27 years old, you feel fulfilled in this family club. You have had an atypical journey. Do you have the feeling of being a bit of a UFO in French football?

JlC: no, because I find that there are more and more cases like mine. Afterwards, it’s true that arriving here at such a level today, I would never have thought of it. Since I left Saint-Brieuc and arrived in Bastia, I don’t set any limits for myself, I don’t worry. I live in the present moment and then the future, we will see. If I can go even higher, I will go even higher. Afterwards, I know that I am 27 years old, so we will have to hurry (laughs).

FM: for the future, what can we wish for you, you who played in the south (in Corsica), in the north in Lens and in the west in Brest? A stay in the East of France?

JlC: No (laughs). Today, I still have 2 and a half years of contract with Brest. At the moment, we don’t know what life has in store for us. There, I am happy in Brest, what you can wish me is many other great victories with the Brest stadium.