Stade Brestois is no longer undefeated in the Champions League! Logically and largely beaten last night in Barcelona 3-0, the Bretons knew that the challenge had been taken up and came out of this match with a logical feeling of helplessness.
How could they blame them? The more than 3,000 Brest supporters present yesterday at the Montjuic Olympic stadium applauded their team as one at the end of the match. The Brest players, a little sheepish, first went to greet the magnificent red and white parking lot located at the very top of the bend. Before heading like Ajorque, Chardonnet, Magnetti, Pereira Lage or others towards the stand of honor where partners, family and friends followed the match with passion. Many players had targeted this gala match from the draw to invite loved ones.
“I had my brother and my parents in the stands. I was able to make them vibrate for 10 seconds before the referee raised the flag,” smiles a little yellow Pereira Lage when talking about his 2-1 goal refused for offside in the 76th minute.
The Finisterians can especially regret the error of judgment and the bad exit on Lewandowski by Marco Bizot causing this penalty in the 10th while the first five minutes had been interesting with two good attacks on the wings. What if Brest had held the score longer? What if this 2-1 goal scored by Pereira Lage had not been canceled? In general opinion, this would probably not have changed the outcome as Barça was superior, but the Dutch goalkeeper took responsibility for his mistake in the mixed zone. “Yes there is a penalty. I should have made another choice,” he regretted.
“Pedri what a player! It’s football”
Eric Roy was furious, especially from the third goal at the end of the match on a bad full-axis restart from Magnetti, the suitcases for returning to Brittany becoming heavy. The Brest coach had decided to align his quasi-typical team to reward his most efficient players and, because a prestigious match like this one does not get wasted when you are Stade Brestois. At 2-0, the score would have been more honorable, it is estimated, without this 3-0 being dishonorable, far from it.
“It’s the top European level. We weren’t at the level today. It’s not a shame,” admits Chardonnet. His coach showed him on camera and off camera, admiring above all the quality of the Blaugrana match. Asked in particular about Cubarsi's match, elected man of the match, Roy smiled: “Yes he had a very good match, but I don't think we can consider a Barcelona player who was bad. When we see the technical quality of this team, the connections they have between them, the defensive runs, Raphinha's pressing throughout the match… And Cubarsi, when is 2007? dream. And there there are others coming behind.”
The Breton fans encountered after the match did not say the opposite, but with a Barcelona player in the lead. “Pedri pfff what a player! It's football!”, says this supporter impressed by the ovation received by the midfielder upon his exit and the “Peeeedri Peeeedri” that we usually heard at the Camp Nou for the legend Messi.
“To see so many supporters all over the city is fantastic!”
If not excited about their team's match, the supporters will have enjoyed themselves before and after the match. Because these are the strong images that will remain from this trip to Catalonia. A club capable of mobilizing crowds for a European trip 1,300 km from Finistère, happily mixing all generations, fully understanding the chance of being there for a moment that will perhaps never come again. The images of the procession climbing the Montjuic hill, the videos of the uninterrupted party from Monday in Plaza Reial then Plaza Espana, the new show by co-president Gerard Le Saint launching the songs. In all strata of the club yesterday there was a feeling of great pride.
“When we enter the stadium and we hear that they are strong,” said Pereira Lage. “It’s an extraordinary journey what we experience in the Champions League, an incredible experience to play such a match against such a team. And look how many Brest supporters were there! In the streets, on the planes, everywhere in the city it's fantastic”, enthused Bizot. A suspended moment that will have to be quickly closed on Saturday to host Strasbourg in Ligue 1.
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