The round of 16 between the Red Star and Lens necessarily has a very special taste for Benjamin Gonel.
Before signing at the start of the season, he had done all the preparation with the Sang et Or. "I was able to meet the newcomers, I know a lot of people, they are having a good season, I'm happy for them", underlines the 22-year-old striker who is delighted to find a club where he signed pro in 2018.
In the current team, he notably knew Franck Haise when he coached the Lens reserve and was trained with Cheick Doucouré and Ismaël Boura.
“With Eric Sikora, Franck Haise is one of the coaches with whom I have learned the most,” he confides.
Thanks to him, I progressed in my movements and tactically.
"
The Boulogne-sur-Mer ch'ti hopes to take advantage of this match against Lens to "show them (that he) has matured and passed a course".
"Since I arrived at the Red Star, I feel more constant, more regular," said the one who scored 4 goals for an assist.
With Lens, his only appearance with the pros is limited to 11 minutes during an L2 match against Lorient on February 28, 2018.
“But I'm neither revengeful nor frustrated,” he admits.
If I didn't break through at Lens, it's only my fault.
I didn't know how to be good enough at times.
“During difficult passages, he was able to count on the support of his father Yannick, a former full-back who played in the 3rd division at Boulogne-sur-Mer and Le Touquet.
“He was always there and gave me good advice,” he says.
He has always worked as an accountant next to football.
He keeps telling me that I have to measure how lucky I am to be able to make a living from football, that I don't have the right to let go, that I always have to hang on and work.
"
If he dreamed of shining in Bollaert where he went as a child with his father, Gomel did not hesitate to chain loans in National: Boulogne, Drancy and Cholet.
“In Boulogne, which was the club when I started, it went very badly.
There were a lot of things left unsaid.
In January 2019, I went to Drancy which was last.
My friend Didier Desprez (now at Paris FC), who was also on loan from Lens, hosted me at the start.
Going from La Gaillette to Drancy changes in terms of infrastructure.
But it did me good to and to confront me with something else.
Unfortunately, I got injured after two games and had to return to Lens for my treatment.
"
Last season, he experienced the rise of Lens in L1 from afar because he was loaned to Cholet (3 goals).
"But I was still in contact with everyone, I followed the games, it was important for the club to come back up," he said.
Installed in Asnières (92), Gomel, who had taken the Red Star out of a very bad step by scoring the goal of qualifying in the 90th minute against Bobigny during the 7th round, said he was "flourished in (his) new life Parisian and within this group ”.
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“I do not regret my choice, concludes the Northerner who has signed for a year (with another optional) at the Red Star.
We have good goals with this Cup match against Lens and especially the rise in L2.
I am really happy with this draw.
Confronting Lens, seeing a lot of people again, it's going to be a great moment for me.
It's just a shame that it was behind closed doors, because there could have been a nice kops duel.
"