We saw her jump for joy, run everywhere and take the microphone in front of the supporters to celebrate Paris FC’s victory against Real Madrid (2-1) Thursday evening in front of 10,653 spectators in Charléty. Scorer in the 6th minute just after Julie Dufour (4th), Gaëtane Thiney was elected player of the match by UEFA. Before going into the cryotherapy truck to recover, the emotion had difficulty settling down for the captain of Paris FC, 38 years old.
We still feel very moved by this evening…
GAETANE THINEY. It’s a lot of happiness, euphoria and excitement. We are truly experiencing extraordinary moments with this incredible group. We were keen to put on a good performance. We also wanted there to be a lot of people at the stadium. We did a lot of publicity on the networks. We were really committed to all the projects. It’s great to show this great club that is Real Madrid that we Paris FC are capable of bringing almost 11,000 people to a women’s football match. I think even the Real players were happy to play in front of so many people. Football is first and foremost a celebration. We play to win but when it’s over, we keep these emotions.
Did playing in front of so many people push you?
Yes. We felt a real sharing, a receptive audience, happy to write this story with us. The energy from the crowd was pretty incredible. 10,000 is perhaps not huge in football, but 10,000 in Charléty is huge… At one point, in the second half, I had time to turn around and look at the stands. Seeing all those phone lights on was beautiful. It really gave us extra spirit to maintain this victory. It was great. The Parisians were fully behind us. I hope that this dynamic will continue on Sunday against PSG in the championship.
How did you experience this crazy start with two goals in six minutes?
Sandrine (Soubeyrand) often tells us that we must be able to manage all scenarios in a match. But the scenario of leading 2-0 against Real after 5 minutes, we hadn’t really considered it… Behind us, we don’t know whether to continue to attack or defend. So it made for a very difficult match, even if we started it a little crazy. But behind, the 85 minutes were not easy. We had some bad times but we were able to stand together and achieve this superb victory.
In what aspects did Real bother you the most?
Real Madrid remains a great team, with internationals, and which plays very well. They widened us on the midfield line and there was a lot of space. We were running into the void. At half-time, Sandrine put us back in place tactically. We had the opportunity to kill the match. But we defended well. Chiamaka (Ndadozie) saves a penalty and has a great match. Everyone can be proud of their match.
Are the 85 minutes you experienced after your two goals a repeat of what awaits you next Wednesday for the return match in Madrid?
I do not think so. Our goal is to continue learning through this match. We will have to be better technically in recovery and get the balls out quickly. We will have to move faster on everything. We will work on it. We have a great staff, the video, they will show us all that. The quality of our team is the intelligence of the game. We will readjust. Madrid will be complicated. There will be fewer people at the stadium but we will be encouraged. There were 21 against Arsenal, 30 at Wolfsburg and they will be more with our families in Madrid. In the meantime, on Sunday, there is PSG. It will take energy. But everything is in place in terms of recovery and diet. The girls ate, went to cryotherapy, it’s just me who continues to hang around in the corridors (laughs)…
