Stade Brestois won on the lawn of Sparta Prague (2-1) this Wednesday, which almost ensures qualification for the next round of the Champions League. Finistère coach Eric Roy did not wish to plan for possible play-offs at the end of the meeting, but he relished the collective performance of his team.
Maybe it’s the victory of the qualification…
Beyond making calculations on the number of points, things like that, what really drives us this evening is having had the match we expected. To have prepared this match well, to have transmitted to the players with the staff and that they were able to translate on the pitch what we wanted to put in place. On arrival, we have this feeling of mastery, of having played the match we wanted to play, with a lot of maturity, of mastery, even though we are novices at this level. For qualification, as we have no perspective, no background, no history, it's difficult to know. In the next matches, we will try to score points, even if the next match could be very dangerous (in Barcelona).
Ten points after four days is still quite exceptional. Is there pride tonight?
Of course there is a lot of pride. We knew that if we were up to the physical challenge, we were capable of making the difference through the quality of our game. All this was done, fairly well controlled, when you see the number of shots we had to add to the bill. It's almost paradoxical, but we're almost disappointed to have conceded this goal at the last second of the match because we would have liked to leave with a clean sheet. This is proof that we are ambitious and that we want to progress.
Does your team continue to surprise you?
My team doesn't surprise me that much. In the matches we had from the start, I think she was capable of achieving this performance. What is surprising is to have 10 points out of 12 possible in this competition that Brest has never played. It's obviously exceptional, obviously a lot of pride to train these boys, to see what they produce on the pitch.
She knew how to adapt to an unusual activity this evening. Can you explain your choices?
We knew that Prague was a wounded beast, this match was the ideal match for them to get back on track. We knew that it was a team which with its system with three central defenders, pistons, this double pivot, these three offensive players, could cause us problems. We knew it could be a fairly direct game with a lot of big guys. In my initial choices, I decided to grow my midfield a little, by playing Fernandes and not Magnetti. And conversely in front, put a player with a very low center of gravity like Doumbia to cause problems for opposing defenders who are very physical. To gain this balance of power, what I think we did.
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What was your feeling when your team missed opportunities for a long time to make a break?
We always regret having had so many situations of being able to add to the bill without doing so. At the same time, we felt that we were closer to scoring this second, than they were to equalizing. I remember a shot from Lees-Melou that he wound up a little too much, a situation from Ludo Ajorque or Camara. There are at least five or six situations that would have allowed us to add to the bill. We're not going to be choosy. Today was a magnificent performance.
