INTERVIEW
On Saturday, Olympique Lyonnais qualified for the second time in its history in the semi-finals of the Champions League, after defeating the formidable Manchester City team by the score of 3 goals to 1. Guest of the morning of Europe 1, Gérard Houllier, coach of the club of the capital of the Gauls from 2005 to 2007, returned to this feat and to what he means to the quality of French football. Because, rare, for the first time since the creation of the Champions League, two French clubs, OL and PSG, are present in the last four of the competition. Another rare fact: no Spanish, Italian or English club is present, a first since 1991.
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"There is a huge training work" in clubs in France
"I am happy for the Lyon supporters who could not follow this match (due to the coronavirus, the matches of the Final 8 of the Champions League are played behind closed doors, editor's note ) but I am especially happy for French football in general; we have two clubs in the semi-finals, it has never been seen! ", enthusiastically Gérard Houllier at the microphone of Europe 1. For him, this result is primarily linked to the training work carried out in clubs in France. "There is a huge training work that is carried out in a professional and graduated manner, which means that we have good French players now," he said, hoping that the final will oppose Lyon to Paris Saint-Germain.
And the statistics don't lie. For several years, victories have followed one another for the teams of the national selection: Under-20 World Cup in 2013 (Pobga generation), European Under-17 Championship in 2015 and under-19 in 2016 (MBappé generation) ... until victory in the World Cup for the A team in 2018.
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"The French player is going up a notch"
"French players are able to play in the big clubs since there are a few at Bayern Munich (Tolisso, trained in Lyon) or Real Madrid (Benzema, also trained in Lyon)", continues Gérard Houllier. But until then, French clubs did not shine on the European scene. Since 2004 and Monaco, no French club has climbed to the final of the queen competition, to the point that Ligue 1 has been nicknamed "Farmers league" by some detractors abroad. Thus, the qualifications of PSG and OL are synonymous with a stage, to hear Gérard Houilier. "I think there is currently confirmation that on a mental level, the French player is going up a notch."
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Asked more specifically about the match on Saturday night, the former coach praised the work of Rudi Garcia, coach of Gones. "I think tactically Rudi Garcia had studied Manchester City's game well. He knew they were going to have more the ball, and the Lyonnais managed to be dangerous two or three times on the counterattack: it's like that he had to play. "