“We must recognize the superiority of Paris”, breathes Mandanda

2024-04-04 01:30:42

The Rennes goalkeeper kept the suspense going on Wednesday, against PSG, but it wasn’t enough (1-0). He reveals his feelings.

Steve Mandanda (Rennes goalkeeper, after the defeat against PSG, in the Coupe de France ) : “There is disappointment because we were eliminated in the semi-final of the Coupe de France. Paris was superior to us, but it’s still a defeat, an elimination in the semi-final… So we’re obviously disappointed. It’s frustrating because despite their superiority, we believed in it until the end with this 1-0 score, we said to ourselves that we could equalize at any time to try to go, at least, to penalties to goal. And we were missing something… And there you have it. We must recognize the superiority of Paris. We are disappointed… The difference compared to 1-1 in the championship? We had been a little more realistic. Today, especially in the first half, we didn’t know how to hold the ball, we quickly gave it back. In the championship, we were much better in this area. And in the second half, we tried a little more, but it was complicated. We could have played a few shots better to put them in more difficulty. That wasn’t the case… It’s a big disappointment but you have to digest it because there’s the championship. You will have to take as many points as possible until the end. (…)

We would have hoped to do better, but we can’t blame the guys for not giving everything, trying everything. With the possibilities we had, the state of the troops, we gave our best, but we must not forget that there was a team opposite us that was far superior to us. We did what we could with our qualities and our means but it was not enough. (…) We were talking about penalties in the pre-match press conference and that made me smile today, so much the better (smile). We had to leave as late as possible, hoping that it would be on the safe side. There are things that we feel, he can shoot on both sides, in the middle. But I felt it, so much the better, it doesn’t happen to me often… I take it when it’s like that.” (comments collected in mixed zone)