PSG goalkeeper Grégory Coupet talked about his long injury absence and the work already undertaken to get back to his best...
Greg, it’s a surprise to see you back so quickly...“My rehabilitation is continuing. My presence back on the pitch on Monday is due to the fact that I’ve been working a lot indoors on my footing and also in my handling, to keep up a certain vivacity, in both the arms and the legs. I worked really, really hard during the early stages of the re-education. Between the treatments and the training, we knew we were on the right track. I’m happy to have surprised everyone – its great.” Has your comeback been brought forward?
"My goal is to be in the squad on March 17 (PSG travel to Coupet's youth club Saint-Etienne). The aim is to work throughout March and get back a certain level. But when it comes to kicking the ball, that's a very delicate operation. We're taking it one step at a time, one week at a time. But it's true that at the moment, I'm pleasantly surprised. I thought it was going to be a lot worse than this. On the day to day, the injury is coming along well."
The sporting results are not going well, and there’s also extra-sportive elements... What do you think about all that?
“It’s a club that’s still struggling. From a sporting point of view, we feel a little responsible, because perhaps if the results had been better, there wouldn’t be all these problems and all this violence. It’s also a reflection of society. People are less and less scared of the police and that creates occasional problems. Sport has nothing to do with it. Football is a working-man sport. Leaving the stadium on Sunday, I saw all the trouble. It’s pretty overwhelming. [PSG president] Leproux showed a lot of courage to take strong measures against all that.” PSG supporters are once again in the news...
“The fans image is tarnished by a minority. At the Parc des Princes, there are 45,000 fans and a lot of people who love sport, who love PSG. When I arrived at the club, I was pleasantly surprised by all the people that are behind the club, that encourage us and who are worried about the results, but don’t resort to violence.”
Do you think PSG has a quality squad?
“I think it’s a good team, but we lack leaders, players to lead by example. The atmosphere is great within the squad, but almost too good given the results. We get along well. When we win we’re happy and when we lose, we’re upset, but we don’t have that dread, hatred of losing. Can you turn nice boys into killers? I don’t know.” Is it hard to wear the PSG shirt at the moment?
“I knew it wasn’t easy and that’s why I came here. Above all, it’s with great pride that you wear this shirt, but there are also responsibilities that come with it. We have to be aware of that and accept it.”
