Beaten by Olympique Lyonnais at Groupama Stadium (3-2) last week, the women of PSG must imperatively win this Saturday, at the Parc des Princes, to hope to qualify for the final of the Champions League which will be played in Turin on May 22.
"It's up to us to find this great moment," announces coach Didier Ollé-Nicolle, who had to juggle the twists and turns of the Hamraoui affair, dismissed for a week by the club after his altercation with Sandy Baltimore.
How was your goalkeeper Barbora Votikoka's week and do you feel revengeful after a very complicated first leg?
DIDIER OLLE-NICOLLE: She
mustn't be too vindictive either, because her position requires serenity.
Barbora has saved us many times this season.
We got a little nervous about a few situations in the first leg.
His week went as logically as possible.
The mishap is part of the game. Yesterday evening again, in the European Cup (for the boys), we saw that goals were conceded on bad assessments.
Barbora is a girl who deserves, she has worked well, there is no particular pressure to be had.
To what extent can the sidelining of Kheira Hamraoui weigh on the group?
In all teams, a player is missing at key moments.
That's how it is, we have to find a solution.
We are not going to go over all the events, but the team, since 2022 overall, has performed consistently.
This is part of a cycle of improvement.
We have Cup matches, and each time, whether in the Coupe de France or the Champions League, the team has been able to find the resources.
Without saying that we had a great match, I liked the mentality of the team in Lyon.
Tomorrow is a big party.
Above all, do not live the moment before.
There are events in a season that cause the cards to be dealt.
The week passes very quickly, we have to stay on the dynamics of the first leg while improving.
The most efficient team will qualify for the final.
How should your team approach this meeting?
We had a very coherent match in Lyon, I think.
"Lyon takes the gifts", was the title of the newspaper (L'Équipe), that's it.
It's part of the game. But we have to do better, we've already played better games than this, especially when we beat Lyon 3-0 in the Coupe de France.
The girls have potential to exploit, if they do the work tomorrow at their post, by raising their level by 5%, with the support of the public.
All week, we tried to keep the vibes positive.
There is a game to be won.
The objective is not to calculate, we had to recover well this week and stay positive.
We have a very interesting leeway in relation to the match, the context, and the opponent to turn the balance on the right side.
There is no need to worry about the fact that the stadium will be full (40,000 people expected,
Editor's note).
It's up to us to find this great moment!
Is Sandy Baltimore's contract extension until 2024 one of the good vibes of the week?
You have to use every moment.
Grace (Geyoro) renewed, there was Paulina (Dudek) too, Ramona (Bachmann), and now Sandy (Baltimore).
It comes at a good time, both timing and psychological.
Sandy found herself at the heart of a story that often happens in football (the clash with Kheira Hamraoui in training, April 23, 2022).
But, as she is young, she had never been confronted with this.
She was shocked and didn't do the performance in Lyon that she could have done.
It is very important that she has re-signed for us, it is a very good signal sent in relation to the match tomorrow evening.
It's good vibes for the team of course.
Grace Geyoro, lined up in front of the defense in Lyon, can she play a notch higher this Saturday?
You can imagine that I will not answer this question (smile).
We took an option in the first leg, which evolved over the course of the match.
We have an idea of how we will play tomorrow, the choice is made.
Grace will be our captain in the heart of the game, but I won't tell you in what position.