Thiago Mendes, here during the benchmark victory for OL, on December 13 at the Parc des Princes (0-1).
-
VS Press / SIPA
Solid third in Ligue 1 after its great success in the derby (0-5), OL can temporarily become leader again this Friday (9 p.m.), in the event of a victory against the Girondins de Bordeaux.
Among the major players of this conquering Lyon, we find the former Lille Thiago Mendes (28), completely found after a missed season.
Before the reception of Bordeaux, the Brazilian midfielder returned to his year of doubts and then his metamorphosis with OL.
“I will do everything to help Thiago Mendes to become the one we all know again, that of Losc.
A week after his arrival on the Lyon bench in October 2019, Rudi Garcia had targeted what was shaping up to be the main failure of Lyon recruitment.
It finally took a year for the Brazilian midfielder to transform into the blooming centerpiece of an OL (3rd) in the title race for the first time in six years.
Due to the closed doors caused by the Covid-19 health crisis, Lyon supporters will not attend the match against the Girondins de Bordeaux, this Friday (9 p.m.), and they have not yet been able to see, at the Parc OL , this unexpected metamorphosis.
Regularly whistled during his first months in Lyon, Thiago Mendes returned to this difficult adaptation on Wednesday, after a significant transfer (22 million euros + 4.5 million € bonus).
“I arrived here with a lot of weight on my shoulders,” he says.
I was a very expensive bought player, it didn't help me.
As soon as something was wrong I felt like it was all my fault, I was really sad.
“That is for the part of the wrongs assumed by a player while shouting lack of confidence, and most often amorphous on the field.
Here in the Champions League in October 2019 against Leipzig, Thiago Mendes missed his first season in Lyon.
- NEW CHINA / SIPA
“Was he behaving 100% professionally off the pitch?
"
Insistent rumors, as well as the publications of the person concerned and his companion on Instagram, have also been able to highlight his taste for the party before confinement.
So much so that in February 2020, OL published a press release "to be surprised at the false information relayed on social networks indicating possible night outings by Thiago Mendes".
Nevertheless, Rudi Garcia went there with his small tackle on the subject Wednesday: “Did he behave 100% professionally off the field?
I am not sure ”.
Milton Cruz, who trained in 2015 in Sao Paulo (Brazil) Thiago Mendes, then recruited at Goias EC, nevertheless assures
20 Minutes
: “With us, he has always been a great professional and he has invested a lot.
He never gave us a hard time off the field ”.
Isn't the native of Sao Luis still often subject to adaptation difficulties, if we also believe his first mixed season at Losc, especially after the replacement of Marcelo Bielsa by Christophe Galtier?
Juninho blocked his departure urges last summer
“When he arrived in Sao Paulo, he might have had some difficulties because he wanted to play all the games straight away,” recalls Milton Cruz.
Then he quickly established himself as he was a modern player, with a game intelligence allowing him to evolve in all positions in the middle.
We quickly noticed that he had the potential to play in Europe.
After that, it obviously takes longer to adapt to another continent.
But he has a good character, and if the team helps him, I'm sure he will overcome these difficulties.
"
Milton Cruz has fond memories of Thiago Mendes' two seasons in Sao Paulo (from 2015 to 2017).
- Andre Penner / AP / SIPA
This difficult 2019-2020 season, concluded with a very little used replacement role in the Final 8 of the Champions League, pushed the Brazilian, under contract until 2023 in Lyon, to consider his future elsewhere last summer.
“I wanted to leave but Juninho did not want to, he says.
I did what he told me: I worked a lot and I raised my head and reversed the trend ”.
It is little to say: apart from his three suspension matches, especially after his expulsion against Neymar and PSG in December (0-1), Thiago Mendes remains on 12 starts in the last 13 L1 matches for which he was available .
"We have only one goal: to win this championship"
“The fact of having taken him out of the typical team, even of the group, made him react, notes Rudi Garcia before the reception of Bordeaux.
Its quality has never been questioned.
We supported him a lot because we knew he had great potential.
The Lyon coach, who considers him the only real defensive midfielder in his squad, even acknowledges having sought to bring him to OM in 2018, after his first season in Lille.
Here in the duel with Marco Verratti in April 2019, Thiago Mendes had established himself as one of the best midfielders in Ligue 1 with Losc.
- Christophe Ena / AP / SIPA
Very influential both in recovery and in the construction of the game (long and short), he seems to find his fullness, at 28, in a hyper competitive sector, with Lucas Paqueta, Houssem Aouar, Bruno Guimaraes and Maxence Caqueret.
And there is no lack of ambition, within an OL that can temporarily become leader again this Friday: "We have only one goal: to win this championship".
Sport
ASSE-OL: How Lyon (again) offered a historic derby
Sport
Zénith-OL: Will Youssouf Koné and Thiago Mendes continue the tradition of Lille flops in Lyon?
Lyon
Sport
OL
Girondins of Bordeaux
League 1
Soccer