From Cayenne where he chairs the board of directors of Dilo Guyane , a local mineral water company, the victorious ex-captain of the 1996 Coupe des Coupes follows “his” PSG. At 57, the iconic goalkeeper remains excellent on his line.
LE FIGARO. - Why will Paris SG win the 2020 edition of the Champions League this Sunday against Bayern Munich in Lisbon?
Bernard LAMA. - Simply because it's his time! PSG is one of the big European clubs which has not yet had the opportunity to put its name on the trophy. It is an additional motivation for the players. To be the first is for life. This game will change the club forever, whatever the outcome. You are one of the greats, even if you don't win the game. And if you are the winner, it is even more beautiful. All beneficial. It would be more than deserved.
“The great difficulty for a club like Paris has been to evolve while keeping its soul. By strengthening its roots. ”
PSG celebrated its fiftieth anniversary this summer, how did you see it evolve?
You know, I've been living with PSG for 50 years. I discovered football in 1970 with Brazil in the World Cup and very quickly had the team poster in my room. This club grew up with France, with the fifty-sixty-year-old generation of people who were born at the same time as him and of which I am a part. Even before I became a professional player there, I loved him. The great difficulty for a club like Paris has been to evolve while keeping its soul. By strengthening its roots. This was the challenge for the institution: how to perpetuate the legend while moving forward?
How do you explain that it took 25 years since the 1996 Coupe des Coupes victory for PSG to play a Champions League final?
PSG is a young club, which has grown quite quickly and has experienced upheavals. You know, in less than thirty years, in my time, PSG had played two European finals (1996 then 97) and five semi-finals. It was exceptional. We had to keep growing, with different owners. PSG are not Real Madrid, but their history is already very rich. It's not so bad, when you look at the national record ... (9 French league titles, 13 wins in the Coupe de France and 9 in the Coupe de la Ligue, Editor's note). The legend is not only written with the results. Because there are years when they are not there. The PSG institution must become even stronger.
“PSG is the only team that presents three individual threats in attack, which can play collectively. Mbappé, Neymar and Di Maria work together. ”
What will be the key to the final against Bayern?
Efficiency. There will be opportunities and scoring chances, we must not miss them. PSG are the only team that presents three individual threats in attack, which can play collectively. Mbappé, Neymar and Di Maria work together. Look at Barcelona, there are a lot of good players but it doesn't work. In Paris, there is a very high level of technical mastery, experience and emotional control. In the last few matches, we have seen the full range of qualities that a team must have when it comes to winning.
What to think of the awkwardness in front of Neymar's goal during this Final 8, during which he has not yet scored?
In the absence of Mbappé and Di Maria, he did the job, in front. He started from further towards the goal. And there was pressure on him. He also defends for the team today. I find that his matches are full and that he has stripped his game. He will score in the final. The goal is for Neymar to win the team, not necessarily to score.
»READ ALSO - Former OM president Bernard Tapie supports Paris SG in the final
In case of victory in the Champions League, will PSG become the greatest club in the history of French football?
Before talking about it, we must already win. After that, it's everyone's interpretation. Each club has its own track record? Nothing can be taken away from either Reims, Saint-Etienne or OM… In the event of victory, PSG would enter the big leagues. For clubs, the Champions League is the benchmark, it is a certainty.
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