When she speaks, it is never for nothing. Friday evening, Wendie Renard let out a heartfelt cry after her teammate Eugénie Le Sommer was injured. Despite the 5-0 victory against Lille, the Lyonnaise didn’t really have the heart to celebrate.
“This is unacceptable to me. There are a lot of matches, a lot of sequences, the authorities have to pay attention to all that, she commented on Canal +. The body is, above all, our work tool and it is important to take care of it. When you go on like that… Eugénie Le Sommer was left out of the French team during the last match but that doesn’t stop her from going on and getting injured. »
Regularly denounced by men, the calendar is also singled out by women. In addition to domestic competitions with the D 1 Arkema and the Coupe de France, international players must add club competitions with the Champions League and the matches of the French team, engaged in the qualifiers for a Euro or a World Cup, but also in the Nations League, without forgetting the Olympic Games.
“There are many, many matches. We love it, we always wanted to play football at the highest level, at least for me, explains the 33-year-old player. But we have to pay attention to the mental health and physical health of the players.”
The Lyonnaises will not have time to breathe as they face the Norwegians of Brann on Wednesday for the 3rd day of the Champions League group stage, which they dominate head and shoulders. They will then continue with Fleury in D 1 Arkema, on Saturday 16, before ending 2023 with a trip to Norway, still in the Champions League, on December 21.
OL will have played 16 matches between September 10 and the Trophée des Championnes, won against PSG (2-0) and December 21. As for the French team, Hervé Renard’s daughters will have played 13 matches between July 6 and December 5, including a World Cup in Australia this summer. That’s a total of 29 meetings in six months. A total which would have been even greater if the Lyonnaises had played in the preliminary rounds of the Champions League like Paris FC (4 matches) or PSG (2 matches).
