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Back in Rennes, Hatem Ben Arfa wants to start the Bordeaux season

2020-11-20T15:57:27.046Z


Hatem Ben Arfa and Bordeaux will seek to launch their season this Friday in Rennes (7 p.m.). Where he had revived himself two years ago.


Hatem Ben Arfa expected it.

The Bordeaux playmaker had anticipated the “boat issue” when he presented himself at a press conference on Wednesday.

“Next week I'm going to Paris.

When I go to Nice, it's the same, when I go to Marseille… all because I played in lots of clubs in this championship, ”he was annoyed when he answered his state of mind. before returning to Stade Rennais.

And to continue: "I do not think like that, for me it is above all to go and win there."

There, it is the Roazhon Park, where the public ignited at the option of his few flashes that marked his year in the Rennes jersey.

"I have very good memories of it, with a trophy (Coupe de France) and a great epic in the Europa League," he recalled.

A great architect among others of the return of Stade Rennais to the fore during the 2018-2019 season, the native of Clamart (33) has fond memories of the first Rouge et Noir title after 50 years of famine.

"It was great, this trophy after 50 years, it was an exceptional atmosphere", he recalled the evening of April 27, 2019 at the Stade de France where Rennes had triumphed over PSG on penalties in a session to which he had registered the second Breton attempt.

A converted penalty to add to 9 goals and 6 assists in 41 matches of a season with a rebound similar to the one he had known in Nice (2016-2017) before joining PSG.

"I consider it a chance to have had the opportunity to train a player like him"

Julien Stephan

A quarrel to finish

A successful season that Julien Stéphan, the Stade Rennais coach, has not forgotten.

"I consider it a chance to have had the opportunity to train a player like him for my first professional experience," said his ex-coach at a press conference on Wednesday.

The two men have a common history.

It was also Ben Arfa who launched in the best possible way Stéphan, then a neophyte on an elite bench, by opening the score of a personal feat in Lyon (0-2, 5 December 2018) at the opportunity for the first match of what should now be called the Stéphan era in Rennes.

"I do not know if I revive him, but he throws me, that's for sure, recognized the Breton.

I don't have amnesia, I remember all that. ”

Coach Breton was keen to build on the good moments of an adventure that ended in incomprehension.

On May 12, 2019, on the occasion of the 36th day of Ligue 1, Rennes was held in check by Guingamp at home (1-1) and Hatem Ben Arfa lost his temper at the end of the meeting: “I do not take no pleasure (…) What we offer is limited, so that guides my choice, ”he had expressed himself, suggesting that his adventure in Île-et-Villaine was going to end.

"I don't want us to remember his time in Rennes only with his exit after Guingamp," Stéphan said.

There was certainly a misunderstanding at the end, but I prefer to remember all the positive things he allowed me to experience. ”

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Join the collective to move Bordeaux forward

For his part, Ben Arfa has no regrets, nodding his head in disapproval when responding to any regrets about the end of the story with Rennes.

The number 8 Girondin is focused on the upcoming match and will ignore the heavy context in Bordeaux, 12th after two consecutive defeats.

“Despite everything that can be said, we are serene, he repeated over and over on Wednesday.

We are confident, we know where we want to go.

It's up to us to find our cruising speed to move forward, we are very optimistic. ”

Insisting on his successful integration and on the notion of collective, the former Marseillais refuted the idea of ​​a preference for another ex-Rennes as a partner on the front of the attack.

"Jimmy (Briand), I know how he plays, it's a different profile from other attackers but I don't feel better about anyone in particular," he said about the center-forward Bordeaux, to whom he offered his hundredth goal in Ligue 1 after obtaining a penalty against Nîmes (2-0, October 25).

After four matches and as many starts in the jersey of his sixth Ligue 1 club, Hatem Ben Arfa certifies being in good shape when relaunching the Bordeaux machine, seized with only three wins in ten matches before tackling two perilous trips to Rennes then Paris. "Physically, I feel great, at my best physical level," he was satisfied.

The sequence of matches makes me feel good.

I feel good on the pitch. ”

An optimal state of form to find Roazhon Park and the one who had inherited his number 18 after his departure, a certain Eduardo Camavinga.

Also passing in front of the media on Wednesday, the neo-international recalled in good memory of his former partner: “He is a talented player, he is very unpredictable, he assured.

I had the chance to play with him in training, or a few times in matches.

He is a very dangerous player, we will have to be very careful of him. "

A match within the match as one of the good reasons to follow this duel at the opening of the eleventh day of Ligue 1. A shock of generation but above all of talent. 

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Source: lefigaro

All sports articles on 2020-11-20

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