INTERVIEW
The shutdown of Ligue 1, the sequel to the Champions League, his relationship with Juninho ... An exceptional guest of Europe 1 Sport this Saturday evening, Jean-Michel Aulas spoke at length about French football news and European. The emblematic president of OL notably defended "the general interest" of the resumption of the championship and the pleasure of seeing the Champions League likely to continue, with a "Final 8" in Lisbon. He also planned for the future, with the summer tournament to be organized by Lyon, his relationship with Juninho in good shape and his relations, according to him, completely cordial with OM. Selected pieces.
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Take over Ligue 1 for "general interest"
"From a legal point of view, it was a failure since we had asked to resume the end of the championship as desired by UEFA, with all the other Nations participating in the European Cups. a decision that was an emergency decision.There were abnormal things that happened and therefore we will not deal with them urgently but we will deal with them on the merits, that is certain. Basically, the battle is not over.
I wanted us to go to the end of the championship. There were two solutions: either we started early enough and if we didn't have time to finish we could go, which the Italian League has also proposed, towards a play-off. And then, there was a second action that had been proposed by Jean-Pierre Rivère at the time, which was to frame the following years on the year of the Qatar World Cup and therefore to go until 20 December. (...) I have always been completely straight in my boots. "
You know, when we stop on the 28th day, there are 30 points left to take. Olympique Lyonnais often has excellent results at the end of the championship. And so, it seemed more normal, since UEFA had defined it like this, and nobody reminds us, that we were going to the end, even if it meant making play-offs. This is what we proposed, on the one hand, immediately on April 30, that is to say at the time of the decision, the League. And then, secondly, when the judge studied this recovery solution by proposing to finish on August 2, since it was UEFA's request to be able to participate throughout the month of July at the end of the championship, for the top and from below, by play-offs. But there were no different versions [from him, note] .
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The general interest is the fact that French clubs will lose between 600 and 800 million euros in a truncated year. A year truncated moreover, by the League, since the judge of the Council of State evoked the fact that it was not the State which had definitively stopped the championship. The championship can be stopped only by the League. So it is a responsibility of the League and the general interest is to show that all the others (European leagues) have not stopped. In the future, we will have to find a certain number of compensations for France, a certain number of solutions, because we are the only ones in the first ten Nations to have stopped and our competitors in the European Cup, eh well, these are the clubs of other nations. Yes, it was in the general interest because I never asked for a specific measure for Olympique Lyonnais. I simply asked that we go after the competitions in the spirit of what had been indicated, which UEFA always indicates. There may be surprises in the next few days. It is said to have been the special interest of OL. It's wrong."
The sequel to the Champions League, "something great"
"For us who are qualified, it is an immense pride. Realize, we finished the championship when we had just eliminated Marseille in the cups, we had eliminated Lille in the cups ... We will play the final against Paris of the League Cup. We had just beaten Juventus 1-0, it's still not nothing! So there is a fantastic passion in the region and we will, I think, go play the return match to Juventus, since the Italians are very lucky, they play football. We, we discuss, we go to court to be able to play football. The Italians, who nevertheless had a health situation much worse than the French situation, well replay football, so it will probably be at Juventus.
We hope, we tell ourselves that it would be magnificent, in a year where we have been challenged, that our players, who are players who have the desire, our staff is inflated to the full, if we could go to Lisbon to play our luck in a Final 8. If we eliminate Juventus, we would be three games or two games from a Champions League final. That's wonderful. So there is a lot of desire and we hope that we will be in Lisbon.
>> READ ALSO - Football resumes in England and Italy, so why not in France?
It’s better than nothing. So you have to look at this resumption and the end of the Champion's League as something great for everyone, for all those who love football. "
His relationship with OM
"I think that it is necessary to dissociate what happened one day in the Journal du dimanche where I was defamed [the president of OM Jacques-Henri Eyraud strongly criticized it there, mid-March, editor's note ], and then the rest. Marseille is one of the very big teams. You know, I started soccer in Marseille with a certain Bernard Tapie, so I know what high level is. I have a lot admiration for what Bernard Tapie did in Marseille. I have a lot of relationships, contrary to what some people say, with Marseille supporters who want to win and who have this great hope of seeing Olympique de Marseille come back to the highest level. We too, with Olympique Lyonnais. This stop benefits OM as it qualifies the Marseille team in the current context. Good luck! You know, above, there is high-performing teams in France in the Champion’s League and the better the French football elite will perform. teams in the top 100 teams in the UEFA ranking. Five French teams. So it is necessary that Nice, Marseille, Bordeaux, that all these teams which have the potential return to the highest level whereas they were not during these last years. "
His relationship with Juninho
"I live with Juni, I appreciate him. I went to get them. There is not the shadow of a sheet of cigarette paper between Juni and me. He is a wonderful boy, he was a extraordinary champion, he has all the reins of the sportsman. the sportsman is king and Juninho is the boss of the sportsman. He was recruited today an assistant on the recruitment part which is Bruno Cheyrou. We all have ambition and objective, to win, with Juni, a Champions League. It has always been my objective, to win, to return to the top of the championship. And to do this, we put in it very significant economic means. "
>> READ ALSO - When Guy Roux mocks the recruitment of Juninho and Sylvinho in Lyon
The summer tournament with Paris ... and Marseille?
"There will be a men's tournament and a women's tournament. Men's tournament in mid-July, with, I hope, eight teams divided into two pools of four, making it possible to make three matches plus a final. But it's complicated since everyone has been arrested in France and the others in the other European countries are playing ... But we will have, I think the best French teams. We haven't talked about it yet [with Jacques-Henri Eyraud of the presence from OM, editor's note ), but that being said, everything is possible.
And then we will also have, to prepare the Women's Champion's League, a tournament with six teams. And as you know, last year we acquired one of the best American teams, that of Seattle, where it reigns. And this team will come since it is our responsibility. We will have the chance, I think, to see again in France, Megan Rapinoe, who won his title of world champion at Groupama Stadium.
I cannot confirm it today because that supposes a very precise organization. On the other hand, what we have done with the prefect of the Rhône-Alpes region is to give our audience the opportunity to start coming back to the stadium. So we are studying all the sanitary measures with a certain number of technological innovations at the entrance to instantly test the people who would come. "