The French had their last training session on Wednesday morning in Nice before flying to Belgium. And the coach and captain Pablo Rosario had the unpleasant surprise of seeing the state of the Heysel pitch when they arrived at the stadium for the press conferences. “I warned my players that we weren’t going to play on a good pitch but it’s even worse seeing it up close. But hey, it’s not the Union’s fault. I know it’s not their real stadium. I already went to Duden Park to watch a match.”explains Haise.
gullNow the Union is launched. It is a team with vertical and intense play.
Since a flirtation in 2018 to become Luka Elsner’s assistant when the Union was in D2, the Nice coach has maintained a sympathy for the Saint-Gillois. “Even before the draw, I always followed the club’s results. This season, the start was more complicated but we can see that the team is off to a good start now. The Union has a vertical game with a lot of intensity.”
We studied the Union well in Nice. Dutch midfielder Rosario, who will wear the armband this Thursday because the three others ahead of him in the hierarchy are injured, did not even need to use his contacts. “I had Mark van Bommel as a coach and I played with Kasper Dolberg but I didn’t try to contact them to scrape information.”he smiles.
Kasper Dolberg, Anderlecht scorer, confides like never before: “If I hadn’t been a footballer, I would have built houses”
The hopes of Nice, 35th out of 36 in the Europa League with two small points, are measured against the Union. “But we know that if we don’t win, it’s the end of European hopes for usresumes Haise. This match is a final for us. I don’t even have to tell the players.”
