“I think the one day less we had to recover really played an important role. Having said that, this Toulouse team has some real quality. It’s not by chance that they’re above us in the standings. They have a very good, powerful and well-organised team. For the goal, we made a huge mistake. If we can’t win a match, we have to at least get a draw. We didn’t have the strength or resources to go looking for an equaliser. Just as much as Lady Luck was on our side against Marseille, tonight she was with Toulouse. We lost Fabrice Pancrate quite early and I was obliged to bring on Ludovic Giuly earlier than planned... It’s not an excuse, but it was a disadvantage...”
Alain Casanova (Toulouse coach):
“We came here with plenty of hope and the aim of playing well enough to get the three points. We were also hoping that PSG would suffer from having one less day to recuperate. Our first half was very poor, but our second 45 minutes was much better and we were able to control the game. But I’m not kidding myself – everyone could see that the PSG players were still feeling the Marseille match in their legs.”
Claude Makelele (PSG midfielder and captain):
“We should be more mature. We’ve got a pretty young team and we need to learn that sometimes you have to be happy with a point. We wanted to play well, but we have a number of weaknesses. Toulouse came here looking to pull off an upset. We have to keep working. It’s nothing too serious, but it’s a shame. Physically we struggled, and Toulouse took advantage of that and got the upper hand.”
Mickaël Landreau (PSG goalkeeper)
“We needed to build on our win in Marseille, but we also knew that it was going to be a tough match. Toulouse were able to block our play by showing a lot of strength. We played well in the first half, but struggled in the second. They didn’t leave us any space and was increasingly difficult to try and breakdown their defence. It’s disappointing to lose, even if I think I should have had a free-kick when they scored. It’s never easy to play at home against sides that sit back with 11 players behind the ball.”
