“This result is so unfair… It’s disappointing, and for me as a coach, you have to accept all possible situations in a football match, but it’s incredible. For me, and I say this honestly as always, we played our best away match of the season. We overcame the opponent throughout, controlled the match and created lots of chances. But we’re not stupid, and we know that you have to score goals. I think we did everything to win this match, we were far superior, and it’s so unfair that it’s frustrating for us as a team to accept it.
That’s how it is, we have to keep going. Clearly, we need to convert the chances we had, but this result is so unfair… We have to continue, we know how tough this competition is. We were far better than our opponent and therefore didn’t see their qualities, and I think we will go very far in the Champions League because with this mentality and personality, I’m very proud of my players.”
“A defeat inevitably brings frustration. We’re competitors, we always want to win. It’s a difficult moment when we lose a match, but we have enough experience to process it together and really think about what we need to improve. There are things we have to improve, right after the match we talk, we debrief, we discuss it all together. I think we have a fairly young team, but we’re aware of how we won it last year, and those are the standards we need to get back to. It’s through hard work, communication, and the friendship we have in the dressing room that we’ll get through moments like this.
We still have everything to play for in the Champions League, we’re well placed. In the league we’re fighting for first place. The Coupe de France is a shame that we’re out but even in difficult moments we reset mentally and know we still have everything to play for. It’s in moments like these that we question ourselves to improve, and that’s how we’ll move forward. We have a coach who is demanding with us, and we’re very demanding of ourselves as well. We’re competitors, we want to win, and we’ll keep moving forward like that.”
“It’s always frustrating to lose a match when you’ve done things well. But as in all big matches, it’s the small details that make the difference. We managed to play high up the pitch, win back a lot of balls, put our pressing in place and create plenty of chances. Unfortunately, they created four or five chances and scored two goals.
It’s always difficult to properly analyse a match right after it ends, to know what we did well and what we didn’t. There are always things to correct and improve, and I think that will still be the case tonight. The supporters are always there. Whether at home or away, they’re there for us and always give their all. We just have to give back what they give us and do our best on the pitch.”
