Lyon side Ellie Carpenter, here in a duel with Parisian offensive midfielder Sandy Baltimore, during the previous clash at the Parc des Princes last November.
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JEE / SIPA
Unmissable in women's football, PSG and OL face each other once again in the Champions League, this Wednesday (6 p.m.), during a quarter-final first leg at the Parc des Princes which promises to be tense.
On March 12, OL did not live with the last minute postponement of this same shock, this time in D1, obtained by the Parisians after three cases of Covid-19 and an intervention by the ARS.
Systematically in the shadow of OL for nearly 15 years, in France as in Europe, the Parisians, currently leaders in D1, are determined to finally stop this hegemony.
“I would have been just as annoyed as President Aulas.
The Parisian coach Olivier Echouafni opted for appeasement, during his press conference, on the eve of a hot PSG-OL, this Wednesday (6 pm) in the quarterfinals of the Women's Champions League.
12 days ago, the Parisian club contacted the Regional Health Agency (ARS), due to three cases of Covid-19 in its workforce, to obtain in extremis the postponement of the real final of D1, on March 13 at Décines.
There followed a press release from OL football director general Vincent Ponsot regretting the Parisian “lack of transparency”.
"I just hope that the PSG did not use the ARS to" choose "its schedule," he said after the officialization of the postponement by the FFF.
One more episode in "the long history of this superb poster", as Lyon coach Jean-Luc Vasseur described it on Tuesday.
Because if he has turned almost all the time on the Lyon side (14 consecutive league titles and 7 Champions Leagues since 2007, against two French Cups over the same period for PSG), the antagonism between the two clubs animates each French women's football season.
"There has always been a strong rivalry, which is quite legitimate," says Gérard Prêcheur, OL coach from 2014 to 2017. But very sincerely, everything has always happened in a good spirit.
We were not giving each other a gift but there was no provocative statement before the games.
"
"On the ground, they are warriors"
The omnipresence of executives from the two clubs in the French team allows, according to him, this observation: “The players of both camps know each other so well and they appreciate each other.
But there are no more girlfriends in the field, they are warriors.
“Some episodes have all the same exacerbated the rivalry like this video of jubilation in the Parisian locker room shared by a player on social networks after a victory in D1 in December 2016 (1-0).
Upgrades, the partners of Wendie Renard that season stuck a 3-0 return to the Parisiennes, before beating them on penalties at the end of the Champions League (0-0; 7-6) and Cup finals. of France (1-1; 7-6) stretched at will.
"This is why I asked my players not to go into it, especially not to put provocative video on the Internet", slips Gérard Prêcheur.
The arrival at OL of four Parisiennes during the summer of 2016 (Kenza Dali, Kheira Hamraoui, Jessica Houara and Caroline Seger) also contributed to further spice up these shocks, as did the refusal of the FFF, in March 2020, to postpone a Paris-Lyon as requested by OL, deprived of three internationals for this meeting.
A few weeks after being eliminated in the semi-final of the Champions League by OL Ada Hegerberg, in May 2016, the Parisian side Jessica Houara and three of her partners had signed up with the Lyon rival.
- FRANCK FIFE / AFP
A really “less unbeatable” OL?
Like a Michael Jordan sublimating himself by seeing the provocation of direct opponents where there is not really any, the Lyonnaises have the art of transforming certain declarations of Parisian players into extra-motivation, as before the final of the D1 in April 2019. PSG midfielder Grace Geyoro had the misfortune to declare in
Le Monde:
“The victory (1-0) in the final of the last Coupe de France was inevitably a release after several years without a title.
We feel more and more powerful against the Lyonnaises, we have the impression of standing up to them, we no longer leave with this fear.
"
Aminata Diallo had added a layer on France Bleu Paris ("The more the years go by, the less I see the unbeatable Lyonnaises") and that evening we were treated to a raging Lyon.
A bleeding 5-0 therefore completed an umpteenth Lyon title that season, and OL goalkeeper Sarah Bouhaddi summed up the feeling of her group as follows:
There was no photo tonight, like all year.
They no longer saw us as unbeatable as they did a few years ago.
It made us tilt, it upset us.
We have not spoken in the press, we prefer to work in silence.
"
"A minimum of respect for everything we have done"
Bim, it doesn't take much to prick the ego of champions, right Wendie Renard?
“We had to have a minimum of respect for everything we did,” declared the Lyon captain after this success.
We did not steal our titles and we did not want to leave anything to them tonight.
"Two years later, PSG may come closer, like its exciting success (1-0) at the Parc des Princes in November, synonymous with first place in D1, OL still intends to leave only crumbs to its historic rival.
On November 20, Sara Däbritz and Kadidiatou Diani savored their success (1-0) in D1 against OL Amandine Henry.
- STEPHANE ALLAMAN / SIPA
“We took stock after this defeat, we missed our subject at that time, assumes Sarah Bouhaddi.
We moved on, we worked and we will demonstrate it on Wednesday.
"PSG could not play their round of 16 in the Champions League return to Prague (3-0 defeat on the green carpet but qualifying after the 5-0 first leg), due to isolation for seven days of the whole group.
In this delicate context, the two teams have not played an official match for two weeks.
"We are attacking a monster, an ogre"
“What was first and foremost was the health of the players and staff, insists Olivier Echouafni.
We have been criticized but we must realize the situation in which we are.
There was sincerely a great frustration on the part of the group not being able to glean our qualification on the pitch in Prague.
The promising offensive midfielder Sandy Baltimore (21), recovered from the Covid-19, reinforces a Parisian team which aims to finally take power, in D1 as on the European scene.
As assumed as two years ago?
“That comes down to talking a little too much, nuance the captain of PSG Irene Paredes.
We remain focused on this first leg of the Champions League game which is very important.
“Paris has learned the lesson of 2019 and is therefore careful not to prick again the pride of the five-time European champions in title.
"We are attacking a monster, an ogre," even skilfully slipped Olivier Echouafni.
"Imagine that in eight days, one of these two big clubs will be eliminated from the Champions League, there is no stronger motivation possible than that", concludes Gérard Prêcheur.
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