PSG’s top scorer with 16 goals, Guillaume Hoarau looks back at the capital club’s UEFA Cup elimination in midweek and ahead to Sunday’s meeting with his former club Le Havre at the Parc des Princes…
Guillaume, how is the squad after Thursday’s UEFA Cup exit?“Very disappointed. We’d had a great run until then. Unfortunately, you have to accept the defeat. We would have loved to play in the UEFA Cup final, but it wasn’t to be for this year. We have to learn from the lesson. We have another match this Sunday and we don’t have time to dwell on it.”
The loss came at the end of a great campaign…
“The president told us at the start of the season, if we’d told him we’d be playing a UEFA Cup quarter-final, he would have taken it then and there. To bow out the way we did, hurts, but that’s football. This end of season might yet have some great things to look forward too and we have to bounce back this Sunday.”
Is the fact that you’re playing the bottom club Le Havre, the best chance to bounce back straight away?
“There are no easy matches. Le Havre beat Monaco two weeks ago and last weekend, Monaco drew with Lyon. There are no easy games in this championship. They’ll visit the Parc des Princes – a first for a few of their players – with nothing to lose and the desire to enjoy themselves in this amazing stadium. They’re a few of the ingredients for an upset. We will have to be wary and impose ourselves.”
In the first game against Le Havre, you scored a brace. Are you hoping for two more against your former club?
“At this stage of the season, we all have our goals. They have had a tough year and will want to do everything possible to earn some respect and show some pride in their colours. They’re not going to give anything away and we will have to be on top of our game to get the three points. Le Havre won’t be offering me any gifts and I won’t have any gifts for Le Havre either. My job is to score goals, whether that be against Le Havre or anybody else. We need goals to keep winning because we’re still in the hunt for the title. We have to win our remaining matches, starting with Sunday’s game.”
So there is still plenty to play for this season…
“We’ve had a great season, even though you can always do better. We’ve always given the maximum. We have seven matches to go and 21 points which go with them. I hope the points all add up in our favour at the end and that we’ll have enough to be playing in Europe next season.”
Is finishing top of the goal-scoring charts a goal for you?
“Help the club finish as high as possible is my aim. If I play well and everyone else plays well then we’ll finish the season well. I want to keep scoring goals, but whether I finish top scorer or not isn’t the priority. The team comes first and if I score a few goals along the way, then that’s a bonus.”
