Lucas Chevalier, your son, is called up to the French team. When someone tells you that, what do you say?
We expected it, though. We will say that there are no surprises. Given his performances, it reinforced the fact that it was bound to happen. We are happy. Frankly, I will speak to you differently if one day he is the holder (in the French team). But this is a very important step. He will have to blend in with the group and make his contribution. Help the team in what he can do in training sessions, push the level of the goalkeepers. And if it allows everyone to be even more efficient…
Do we say to ourselves: “Finally”?
Not even. He is young. The main concern is to perform well in the club. The French team is the result of a job well done. He had a superb performance against Real Madrid. We had to confirm against Atlético de Madrid and Juventus. On this international level, he confirmed. This selection is a bit like the logical progression of things. And it's good that it's happening here. He deserves it.
He turned 23 on Wednesday. It's a beautiful gift…
Great gift! He hoped so. He's been wanting to be called for some time. But for him, in my opinion, it is his greatest gift.
Is your son impatient?
He was always very impatient. Over the last six months, he's been a little less so, with a little more maturity, perhaps. He begins to see things a little differently. I think his performances help him to be calmer. This year is a bit pivotal. He discovers the Champions League. We talked about it: “It will change your pace of life, you will play every three days. C1 matches, in terms of intensity, psychological and physical pressure, are on another level…” Initially, when he was not selected (in October 2024)I told him: “You know, maybe it’s not so bad. It allows you to breathe, to get out of this context of permanent pressure. » And I added: “If you repeat these performances, you will go there…”
We have the impression that he has been playing at a high level for ten years, even though this is his third season in Ligue 1.
You were talking about a pivotal year. Would you say that he put pressure on himself by saying: “This is the season I have to prove”?
That was never his speech, nor ours. Lucas has been very determined since he was little. In everything he does, he is a worker. He concentrates on maintaining this determination, on having the desire to progress… I think he even enjoys playing matches with pressure. He has great confidence in his abilities as a goalkeeper. On a technical and athletic level, he believes he has a very good level. But he also knows that to be a great goalkeeper, that is not enough.
When you see the incredible save against Dušan Vlahović last Tuesday against Juventus…
This is going to sound weird to you, but these are the kind of saves where I have no doubt about his ability to do that. This is perhaps its strongest point. When he was young, everyone was ecstatic because he had this capacity for responsiveness and speed. A slightly unusual explosiveness. When he played 8-a-side football, he was small, but he would get you the balls in the top corner. And he won the title of best goalkeeper of the tournament for this save because no one was capable of that. But coming back to Juventus, yes, it was a very high quality save. The reaction time is so fast that the brain has to be wired. He also has this head start because, basically, he is well placed. At the moment of the cross, he takes the small steps necessary to put himself in the best position to intervene. The stop is extraordinary, but it's thanks to these small steps. If he's 80 centimeters further to the right, he can't have it.
How does he impress you the most on the pitch?
This serenity, this tranquility that he has. His body attitude is still very good. It is both dynamic and at the same time calm. He knows how to set a rhythm and knows how to calm down. We have the impression that he has been playing at a high level for ten years, even though this is his third season in Ligue 1. That makes me think that he feels good on the pitch. He works with a mental trainer, who must have helped him understand the events. He sees him less lately. But he wanted to work with it not because he didn't feel good, but to feel even better. As he always wants to progress, he understands that the mental aspect is fundamental. So if he could have any ideas for improving this mental freshness… He also has to manage the pressure, the matches… Contrary to popular belief, yes, a goalkeeper is not necessarily physically tired like a field player, but, mentally, if he is concentrated the whole match, at the end, he is very tired.
You can go to his house at any time, I can tell you the house is spotless. Before going to bed, he vacuums.
You were talking about bodily attitude: when we watch him on the pitch, celebrating, or facing journalists in the mixed zone with a certain relaxation, we have the impression that he is enjoying what is happening to him.
I think he is aware of the chance to do an extraordinary job. If you look at his first two seasons in Ligue 1, they are good. The first, he was even named in the five best goalkeepers. At the time, I said: “We must understand that Lucas does not see football as a simple profession. » He goes further. He wants to experience emotions, and above all share them with the public, the supporters. He needs that connection. It also perhaps allows you to express yourself, to relieve pressure… For him, football is a communion. That's his philosophy.
In this series of good performances, of exposure, with now the French team, how do you feel?
I find him happy. Feel good in his sneakers. In his private life, he is very rigorous. You can go to his house at any time, I can tell you the house is spotless. Before going to bed, he vacuums. If you go to bed at midnight, you will hear the vacuum cleaner. It's his temperament, he likes everything to be tidy. He feels better like this. But I find him fulfilled, confident. His life is well organized.
When you take a step back from this summons, when you think back to all this journey since Coquelles (his childhood town in Pas-de-Calais)… It's in these kinds of moments that we think back to everything that ?
Last time, I was discussing it with friends. When I see this journey, which went by so quickly… We didn't take vacations because we knew we had to take them (Lucas and his brothers, Editor’s note) in football at the beginning of July, being available on Saturdays and Sundays to do 200 kilometers there, 200 kilometers back… In the end, when we arrive with a result like Lucas, we say to ourselves that it is also a reward for us.
One match in U16, 4 matches in U18: the Blues rarely succeeded as youngsters…
He has a somewhat troubled history with the French youth teams. He was not necessarily number 1 in his category in U16 and U17. But when the lists arrived, he said to him: “I hope I’ll be there!” » When he wasn't there, he was disappointed. The French team has always been a goal for him, from a young age.
If Lucas arrives for the selection today, we can say that it is because he had the chance to rub shoulders with a guy like Mike Maignan.
For an impatient person like him, it must have been hard…
Yes. But I minimized it with him. I told him: “You know, the French youth teams, lots of them go there and do all the categories up to the Espoirs, and then it's over. » And there is the opposite, like Mike Maignan. But when he went to the selection, he felt superior to the others. In the French U17 team, he played in National 2, the other two in U17 or U19, national. But the goalkeeper coach of the selection did not even know that Lucas played in N2! This is to tell you… In these categories, at the staff level, they do not find out enough about the players… It was during a discussion with this coach that he asked: “What level do you play at?” When Lucas replies: “A National 2.” He said to him: “Ah good ?” At 16, Lucas, for his first match, it was against Jean-Philippe Krasso's Épinal… It was a blast. And he performed right away.
You were talking about it: in Clairefontaine, Lucas Chevalier will meet Mike Maignan, whom he knew at LOSC. And their relationship is special.
Mike made him see football and the goalkeeper position differently. The vision that Lucas had changed upon contact with Mike Maignan. On the preparation, mental, work aspect… It was crucial and beneficial. If Lucas arrives for the selection today, we can say that it is because he had the chance to rub shoulders with a guy like Mike Maignan. Lucas really appreciated that he had consideration for him. Maignan is a hard worker, he is a perfectionist, on task all the time. Lucas, that suited him, because he had a bit of that character. Having a guy like that as a model meant saying to Lucas: “The goalkeeper position, that’s it. This path is the right one. »
Lucas Chevalier should be summoned by Didier Deschamps
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