“Croatian to French football interpreters must be in short supply so new Olympique de Marseille head coach Igor Tudor, who spent much of his playing career in Italy, looks as if he’s going to have to use his Italian a fair bit for the next little while.”
I said this in my intro last week but you can (maybe) scrap that already. OM were again on – away to Stade Brestois – in the Sunday night slot in matchday 2 – which means they are again the focus of this week’s Ligue 1 Sunday Sounds. Only this time, Tudor was instead asked questions and answered in English. Still looking for that Croatian to French football interpreter…
I’ve opted not to just transcribe what Tudor said, so instead here are a few translations of what some of the other key players figures to say.
Marseille midfielder Valentin Rongier:
“It’s true that we weren’t able to do what we wanted to. We had a game plan for tonight but we didn’t carry it out, partly because of how well Brest played. I feel as if we struggled physically a bit, we didn’t sprint the way we normally do or play with the intensity that we want. I think a draw was a fair result tonight.”
Brest goalscorer Pierre Lees-Malou:
“The goal is thanks to Hugo Magnetti. I normally go to the front post but he was knackered and was too tired to go to the back post so he told me to go there! After that, it was one touch and it could have gone anywhere. I almost killed a spectator with the first one but the second one went in, luckily for us! I think we deserved it overall. We’re not going to be too greedy after a draw but maybe we even deserved a bit more.”
“I think we played better than they did. We started really well, we pressed them high, I don’t think they felt comfortable with that. In the end, they didn’t offer much apart from the corner, which they worked well. We played much better than we did against Lens, when we didn’t impose ourselves enough. Tonight was better, even though it’s just a draw. It’s encouraging for the future.“
“We worked hard (on limiting spaces out wide) during the week and it’s nice to have been able to execute what we worked on during the game. We’re a bit disappointed not to have won but still, not bad.”
Watch Rongier and Lees-Malou’s interview here.
Brest boss Michel Der Zakarian:
“We’re not disappointed, we’re very satisfied with a good performance from start to finish, with a lot of intensity and high pressing. We didn’t just let them play, we got in their faces. We used the ball well. We were much better in every department compared to last week’s match. We could have won it in the second half, although they also could have scored in the first half. Lilian (Brassier) saved it almost on the line although it wasn’t on target but he got back well to save it after a great piece of skill from (Matteo) Guendouzi. After that, Jérémy (Le Douaron) had a big chance to score a second but he rushed it, he could’ve controlled it. Haris (Belkebia) gave him the ball, he had time to control it and put it in the net…it’s a pity. It was a big chance. He also had the header from the cross which went over. But we played really well, we did what we had to do to unsettle them, so well done to them for putting on a good display. Let’s hope we can repeat it.”