Le Monde | • Updated | Interview by
Wednesday, October 21, PSG receives Real Madrid in the group stage of the Champions League. Have you surrounded this date in red on your calendar?
This is a special game against a great team. This does not happen every day. We are really pleased to have such opposition and be able to gauge face this kind of training. After that, it will be worth 3 points, as in the matches against Malmö and Chakthar Donetsk. Like us, the Real has six. There is a small battle for first place
Read also:. Champions League: PSG easily beats FC Shakhtar Donetsk
East -this the first moment of truth for PSG this season?
A moment of truth … That’s just for you journalists! You want to mess with that kind of team. One of the best in the world. This remains a hen meeting. This is not a final of the Champions League. This will be a big game, very complicated facing great players. But we are at home and we will play to win
This evokes what, for you, the Real
That says it all.? C ‘ is the richest team in the world over the last ten seasons [549.5 million euros in revenues at the end of the 2013-2014 season, against 474.2 million euros for PSG, fifth richest club in the world] , this is the best team in the world over the last decade. This is a very big club, an institution that is built over time, which has won many titles, including ten Champions Leagues [last coronation dated in 2014] . We have a lot of respect for Real
PSG coach Laurent Blanc often points the cultural backwardness. – Including the “winning culture” – PSG compared to large European teams like Real. Do you share his analysis?
Absolutely. Little titers were compared with Real. That is a fact. Over a season, anything can happen but we know that Real is above us.
Have you fed the media ask you each season if it will be that of PSG’s victory in the Champions League?
It is said that every year and finally we eliminated three times in the quarterfinals. We must not ignite. Certainly, we have a very good team, it is even better than previous years. It feels really good. We know better, we recruited high quality players [like Argentina's Angel Di Maria this summer] . But … The truth is the experience in March, the fourth round on, if we can move the hens. We are at the beginning of the competition.
Twenty years after the victory of PSG Cup Winners’ Cup, expectations are they higher this season in the Champions League? Especially now that you no longer suffer the constraints of the financial fair play …
They have always been high for PSG since my arrival and the start of the Qatari era in 2011. At the time we already asked us to gain the maximum competitions. That has not changed. There are no more expectations than last year. After each his feelings.
You aim at least the semifinals?
I can not tell you today where we want go. We want to do better than last year and our elimination in the quarterfinals by FC Barcelona. Every team dreams of winning the Champions League. For this to become reality, we must be aware that there will be steps.
The amount of TV rights in England exploded with € 7.3 billion over the period 2016-2019. Do you fear the new firepower of Premier League clubs on the European stage?
This is what might happen. This is quite logical. English clubs have already plundered a lot of very good players playing in Ligue 1. At European level, the Premier League is the most attractive championship. English clubs have their say in the last four of the Champions League. They will become serious competitors. What they were no longer in recent years.
Last season, PSG won everything on the French scene. Should we leave out one of the national competitions to focus on the Champions League?
This is a reflection to be considered. We have a workforce that is quite broad. For now, it is going very well. In Ligue 1, we took the lead over our competitors. Which was not necessarily the case last season. It’s good for the future. When we play at PSG, he must want to win everything. You do not want to skip to a particular competition.
Your coach, Laurent Blanc, he remains the man of the situation?
What is required of a coach is to win titles. From there, what can you blame him? I’m not a journalist or club president … He brought his philosophy. She walks. We are happy for him, for her work. We are all exposed to criticism. When we play at PSG, it must be perfect. The perfect word does not exist in reality. We must understand this. Many people do not understand it. It will never be perfect. Of course we would like to perform better football. Today we have good results. Maybe this is not enough for us to reach our goals. While I think we have the means to do very good things this season. The expectation is huge when it operates in a club like PSG. We must accept criticism. This was the case of the coach. He managed to find his place. He reaps the fruits of his work today.
You have increased steadily on athletic and technically. How do you explain
I often repeat: through work. It has sometimes been difficult, it was necessary that I hang times. I can still go higher and move forward. Today, the idea is to win big titles
Jean-Claude Lafargue, your trainer at the National Institute of Clairefontaine football, told me. “Blaise built the floors of his house with his consistency, with solid foundations. “What do you think?
” Coach Lafargue, “I like a lot, sums up my career. It is important to have a good foundation. I’m not a Messi. My talent allowed me to play at the professional level. To reach the international level and evolve in the France team, you had to provide a lot of work.
Whether with PSG or for France, you have turned into scorer. Your teammate Zlatan Ibrahimovic he gave you specific course?
He did not give me private lessons. You know, when you room every day in training, this requires you to apply yourself a little. That was the case. It has paid off. I often look at my teammates and sometimes you learn from what he does best. I am fortunate to have Ibrahimovic and Cavani, who are both great strikers.
Although it is not my first role, and we need people understand. I try to follow, watch others. That way, when the opportunity arises, even if they are rare, at least there are more opportunities to score. I have other tasks. But it is a more
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You were formerly represented by Jean-Pierre Bernes agent [that include Laurent Blanc] , but you chose in 2013 to entrust your interests to Mino Raiola, the impresario of your teammates Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Maxwell and Gregory van der Wiel. Whether he brings?
This is someone who is very familiar with football for many years. We get on very well. He is strong in his field. After that, I’m a big boy. I also know make my decisions. He’s there to help me, support me on that score
Are you relieved that things are getting serious with the Blues. – Who face Germany in November and England – after this long tunnel friendly matches which coincided with the qualifiers for Euro 2016, organized in France
When we play in the France team, motivation must come from itself . Regardless of the games. It represents his country. There is nothing better. The prospect of the Euro in France is fabulous. It is not given to everyone. The last major competition with us, it was the 98 World, there are almost twenty years.
After the success of the Blues on their soil at Euro 84 and the World 98, there will be an obligation of results …
You want to do a great thing, to go as far as possible. In 1998, there was a great generation. Today we have a young team, under construction even though we know each other a little more since the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. There is a core that has been there since the arrival of Didier Deschamps in July 2012. It’s like a bunch of friends. The Pogba generation Varane is very interesting for the future. Do not forget Griezmann. Young players have joined us as Digne, Kurzawa, Zouma, Kondogbia, Aréola. They are installed in big clubs and are mature. We can not ask them what will be done to the Euro, or win it. We want to go into the last four of the competition. I will not hide. With us, you want to say “guys, we can.” But there will be other large selections that also say “we can.” We can not predict anything.
What European nations are above you now?
Germany, even if it is worse now. The Belgium [who will take the head of FIFA rankings at its refresh in early November] which is currently a very good job and has good players. Do not forget Spain, defending champion, one knows his football. Italy, which is always present in major competitions even if it has missed in the last World Cup with his elimination in the first round. It should not be forgotten England. We will have our say in this competition, which is difficult.
Were you worried in June after your bad run of spring (three defeats in four games), including the defeat in Albania (1-0)?
No, I was not worried. It was a period of a little tricky season. I was told “we will return in September with another mindset” . Many players were tired mentally. This is what made the difference in the results. The Euro will be in June (June 10-July 10, 2016), end of the season … But there will be good preparation and Didier Deschamps will put us right away in the heart of the matter.
You have followed the political news to FIFA in recent months, including the suspension for ninety days of Michel Platini. Do you talk with your teammates in the locker room PSG? Is this a concern you?
No, not at all. That is another area, it does not necessarily concern us. We’re here to play and try to win in club or national team. You said so well: this is politics
Read also:. FIFA candidacy (very) compromised Platini
Should players take a position on this? One may think that you are the first concerned …
No, it is not our role. We are not aware of what is happening. Why must ask ourselves if this does not go on that front?
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