Stunned but not knocked out. Eight days ago, on the ground of their Lyon rivals, the players of Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) went in ten minutes from a considerable advantage to a one-goal handicap, after an unreal end to the match (2 -3). On the occasion of the semi-final return, Sunday April 28 at the Parc des Princes (4 p.m.), the Parisiennes do not intend to turn the other cheek. They believe in qualifying for the Champions League final, where they would face Barça who eliminated Chelsea yesterday.
Olympique Lyonnais (OL) may have moved mountains at home, supported by a large audience – record attendance of more than 38,000 spectators –; the Rhone club is certainly eight times European champion and has an 11-point lead in Division 1, but PSG has “no inferiority complex vis-à-vis Lyon,” asserts its defender Sakina Karchaoui. A short-lived OL player (in 2020-2021), she rejects the idea of mental domination by her former club: “You may think that they have taken the psychological advantage, but that is not at all the case. Today, I even think that we have reached a milestone compared to them,” assures the former Montpellier resident.
First assistant to his father, Gérard, in 2022, before taking the position of head coach this season, Jocelyn Prêcheur shares this optimistic observation. Despite the stunning scenario of the semi-final first leg, OL are no longer an insurmountable obstacle for their team. “It’s not the Coué method,” he says. If I look at our last two matches at home, we were evenly matched. We had some strong moments on the way out which gave us reason to believe in it. »
For the 41-year-old technician, who started in the Chinese women's championship, the evolution of his group is positive: “I am no longer talking about a gap with OL, at least not in terms of talent or ability. He perhaps remains in terms of experience, because you cannot erase eight victories in the Champions League, he explains. We no longer have to be ashamed of the comparison with Lyon. We must be convinced of this before approaching this return match. »
During the semi-final first leg, PSG managed their match perfectly for eighty minutes of play. As expected, the capital club started by facing the usual intense start of the match from the Lyonnaises before punishing them by the opening of the mark at the end of the first period.
Then the Parisiennes had an excellent second half, scoring a second goal and missing several opportunities to kill the game with a third goal. Before six unreal minutes, where OL reversed the trend. “The next day, we had to evacuate the frustration of the scenario, more than the result,” analyzes Prêcheur, insisting that his team “focus on the positive things” of the meeting.
“A lack of lucidity about certain choices”
“It was an emotional match. We remember the last ten, it's frustrating, because the score does not agree with the progress of the match", argues Sakina Karchaoui. Far from being dejected, the teammates of captain Grace Geyoro and formidable scorer Marie-Antoinette Katoto, author of a double in Lyon, reacted after this disappointment. “We got up, we talked and we exchanged,” says Karchaoui. It was constructive, and we are even stronger. We know the mistakes we should no longer make. We believe in it: we know we’re going to do it. »
How to explain these ten minutes which changed everything during the semi-final first leg? In a post-match press conference, Jocelyn Prêcheur pointed out a lack of efficiency and a physical decline at the end of the match. After talking about it with his players, he elaborates: “It’s an accumulation of several things. This athletic decline has led to a lack of lucidity on certain choices. » No question of it happening again at the Parc des Princes. “We will better anticipate the different strategies to put in place depending on the end-of-meeting scenarios,” explains the technician. Some players are tasked with reacting in these key moments when it is difficult for a coach to communicate in a noisy environment. »
On Sunday, 30,000 spectators are expected at the Parc des Princes, the day after a match where the men's team, also qualified for the European semi-finals, failed to formalize its twelfth championship title against Le Havre (3-3). champion of France.
“We were in tough times at the end of October, beginning of November, we know where we come from,” recalls Jocelyn Prêcheur. We also use the dynamics and energy diffused by the good results of the men. In a crazy scenario, it would be an exceptional year if our two sections won the Champions League. » A final scheduled for May 25 in Bilbao for the women compared to a final scheduled for June 1 in London for the men. In Paris, the PSG players would be “forever first” in the event of a title, a week before Kylian Mbappé and his team.
