The entry of Florian Sotoca did not allow Lens to win. JB Autissier / PANORAMIC
Entering the break, the Lensois striker looks back on his team’s defeat in Paris on Saturday (3-1).
Regrets : «We are disappointed to be ten quickly because at 11 against 11, we stood up to them. It’s a shame… But we’ll remember the group’s state of mind: at 3-0 at half-time, at the Parc des Princes and outnumbered, many teams would have given up. We didn’t give up, we stayed our course and we had a very good second period. We come out with a 3-1. All in all, we can be proud of ourselves. (…) We wanted to win. We made a big start, we have two or three situations that could have allowed us to open the scoring. But it is in relation to this red card that we will have regrets because we thought we were bothering them, we had studied them well. It changes the course of the match and we concede three goals quickly which hurt the head. But we came back in the second half with the same game intentions, to press high. At 11 against 11, it’s already difficult here. So at 10 against 11, even more, but we can be proud to have raised our heads in the second half.»
We did not dream of the title.
Florian Sotoca
The title : «We didn’t dream of the title, we just wanted to win this match to move forward and finish as high as possible. Afterwards, in the group, we never talked about a title. We are just disappointed with the result because we thought we could annoy this team. We saw it during the first 20 minutes, we put them in difficulty. We knew they feared us, it was again seen tonight. It’s a shame to take this red after 20 minutes, it changes the face of the match…»
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The Red : «I didn’t see the image again but I was told it was still a big mistake, so no worries about that.»
The second half and the tactical reorganization : «We stood up to Paris. We had already changed organization after the red, we had gone to 5-3-1. Of course, it’s not easy to get them high when it’s our trademark. We kept this course, the coach (Franck Haise) wanted to make a change at half-time to bring freshness, dynamism, and that’s what we managed to do in the second half. We were able to look them straight in the eye, we can be proud of ourselves. It’s a shame because at 3-1, if we score this second goal, it could have put them in even more difficulty, the public could have turned against them… It’s a shame not to have put this second goal to annoy them a little more because we really felt in their eyes that they doubted, that they feared us.»
What we’ve been doing since the start of the season is extraordinary.
Florian Sotoca
The coach’s speech : «The word is pride. What we’ve been doing since the start of the season is extraordinary! We showed it again tonight, even if it was difficult. We are proud and we want to continue like this in the last seven matches to finish as high as possible. We are an ambitious group. We will try to get what we deserve.»
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The plan to hinder PSG : «Quite simply, to be ourselves and to have a lot of fun, as we have been doing since the start of the season. we wanted to rush them, look for them high, which we managed to do, by scratching two or three balls which put them in difficulty in the first period at 11 against 11. Afterwards, at 10, it was a little more complicated , but we managed to do it too. We recovered a few balls which allowed us to have situations and even big chances in the second half. But that’s part of the game.»
The impact of the Galtier affair : «It’s their problem, not ours. We were mostly focused on ourselves. It was already important.»
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