Orly (France) (AFP)

Bursts of laughter, claps in the hand and a rolling balloon, finally. At Paris FC (Ligue 2), post-confinement training has resumed almost as before, even if we try to "not touch each other too much", because "the disease is still there".

Under the clouds of Orly, ten players are busy in a terribly banal scene between exercises, braces and chambering: "If we understand correctly, you are morning!", Congratulates Gérard Bernardet, the assistant coach.

If the only masks worn are those of journalists who came to the Val-de-Marne training center, Tuesday's session remains marked by the coronavirus.

"We worked with groups of three at the start, then six, and today we have half of the workforce on one side, half of the other," explains coach René Girard who, like his players, had to be screened again in the afternoon.

If the daily gradually regains its rights, it is still advisable "not to touch too much," he said. "You know that footballers are affectionate, so don't kiss each other too much. I'm from the South, I'm a very tactile person, so you have to be careful."

"It changes our behavior but we easily adapted, it became something we do without knowing it. We get used to the measures put in place and we try to respect them because the disease is still there" , offensive midfielder Jonathan Pitroipa.

For the former Rennes player, the fear of the virus fades once in training: "On the field, you forget that you can injure yourself. There while training, we don't think about that too much. "

- The wound, enemy N.1 -

The risk of injury, which haunts footballers in normal times, is taking up more space at present in the minds of the players of the Paris club, whose bodies have to take the brunt of the recovery after a long forced cut.

"With three months off, you build up your muscles. One month you lose a lot, then three months you lose a lot, this is where the danger lies: leaving too quickly and risking injury quickly", notes René Girard, noting that 'there has been "a lot of breakage in the championships that have resumed".

Returning to training on June 22, after a battery of physical tests, the PFC will carry out an internship in Brittany from July 2 to 11, with the conclusion of a friendly match in Caen. A week of rest will then be granted to the players to spare the bodies.

"Physically it is a little difficult to go back to two training sessions per day. On the other hand, mentally it is a breath of fresh air to touch up the ball, to be in a group", breathes Gaëtan Belaud, defender recently recruited from from Brest (L1).

The legs are not too heavy because "we were talking at home. After, the pace of group training was lacking but we will resume little by little", continues Marvin Gakpa, another recruit from Metz (L1).

- "A returning freedom" -

Surrounded by "happy boys, happy to resume their profession", Girard put the ball at the heart of his training to combine intensity and rediscovered happiness.

"We can get to work physically with the ball," says the 66-year-old technician, champion of France with Montpellier in 2012. "There they work without realizing it with great pleasure."

But before worrying about the game, Girard remains more attentive to the psychological state of the players at the end of a new confinement and potentially source of anxiety.

"Boys need to speak, to discuss, what we have experienced is not something simple," he says. After being "cloistered" at home for so long, the Gardois appreciates the near return to normal. "There is still a freedom that comes back little by little, while remaining vigilant."

© 2020 AFP