The Marseille sports director confided his disappointment and his pride after the Champions Trophy against Paris-SG.
So close, so far… In search of a first title since 2012, OM lost on penalties to PSG (2-2, 4-1 tab) on Thursday, in Kuwait, during the Champions Trophy. Roberto De Zerbi cried. Mehdi Benatia, for his part, confided his “sadness». «But I’m really proud to have a team like that“, immediately added the Marseille sports director, speaking at length in the mixed zone and recalling that the Olympians committed a match “catastrophic» in Nantes last Sunday (0-2). “For once, the criticism was deserved. But once again, after a simple defeat, we thought we had to throw everything away, that no player had the level», at-il, emphasizing the match of Kondogbia, Traoré, Medina, Hojbjerg or Balerdi.
«Lots of pride, for the players, the coach“, he then noted to the press, remembering having “heard that the coach was not good. But playing a match like that against PSG, there is no coincidence. You don’t play this match after Sunday’s if you don’t have a great team and a great coach. But that’s just my opinion“, he said, to settle scores.
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Mehdi Benatia recognizes, however, that the question is to know “how to play this type of match over time and not repeat that of Nantes, which was unacceptable. You don’t accept it, we don’t accept it, neither do the players. They are not happy with this type of service. This is our biggest challenge», insisted the former Bayern Munich player.
PSG is the best team in Europe.
Mehdi Benatia
And to continue: “PSG did not win this trophy just last year, but for more than ten years (14 times in total, event record, Editor’s note). They’re the best team in Europe, you can’t take it away from them. They show it every weekend. We lacked a little success on both surfaces. We had a lot of chances in the first half. It’s been a long time (Lucas) Chevalier had not had such a big match . When we have the action of 3-2, on which we could have been more vicious, more clever… In hindsight, it’s easy. The truth is that we have had a lot of positive results over the past year and a half but we haven’t always had the game the coach wanted. But this evening, we lived up to it, we showed a lot of good things.”
The players broke my heart, the coach too. Everyone was really sad but football is like that, it’s cruel.
Mehdi Benatia
One thing is certain: this setback affected the players and “RDZ”. Mehdi Benatia understands their feelings perfectly. By his function, however, he wanted to gain height in the mixed zone. “If I’m a player, I inevitably leave disgusted, but also with a lot of ambitions for the future. When we play like that, we are capable of doing great things“, he insisted, admitting in passing that “the players broke (him’s) heart, the coach too. Everyone was really sad but football is like that, it’s cruel. To win, you need this kind of defeats that teach you a lot».
The former Juventus defender recalled that PSG is well ahead in its project, while the Marseille group has, according to him, “created the day before yesterday. They have been 15 years. We arrive, we push, but once again, doing these two matches in five months against the best team in Europe (the 1-0 victory in September and the Champions Trophy, Editor’s note), that doesn’t make you a champion but it doesn’t make you a catastrophic team either with wooden players, a coach and wooden leaders. There is a balance to find“, he indicated. In Marseille, we rarely go by half measures…
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Matches like the one in Nantes, I no longer want to see or accept them.
Mehdi Benatia
«There was a cup to be taken and unfortunately, we didn’t raise it“, he explained in the form “pragmatic analysis». «Afterwards, if you want my feeling, after Nantes, I didn’t just lose three points, I lost much more. I speak for myself, but I went home wondering what was going on. Matches like that, I don’t want to see or accept them anymore. Today, I lost, but I don’t see it as a defeat. You might think I’m kidding but I’m proud. Everything I saw today makes me proud to have guys like that», he continued, evoking in particular the returning Medina and Traoré and their good match on Thursday evening.
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And to conclude, looking ahead to Ligue 1: “We may be less good in a few days but we will have to take points, because things are starting to pick up again (the L1 ranking here ). And we will have to keep this temperament. One thing is certain: when you agree to come to this club, you can miss passes, dribbles, but you cannot fail in attitude. When you see the Dubai fan club that came tonight, it’s not everywhere you see that, so you can’t cheat. Yes, tonight is a defeat, but I am growing up».
