While the recruitment of Dejan Lovren, 33-year-old central defender, was announced on Monday by Olympique Lyonnais, coach Laurent Blanc was questioned about the neo-Nazi songs uttered by the Croatian defender after the World Cup in Qatar.
Coming from Zenit Saint-Petersburg, Lovren, 33, who had already been with OL between 2010 and 2013, caused controversy recently by performing neo-Nazi songs with his teammate Brozovic, as part of the festivities relating to the 3rd place for Croatia at the World Cup in Qatar.
"It's a nationalist song for the liberation of his country," Laurent Blanc first reacted, somewhat annoyed.
It is actually a song by the very controversial Marko Perkovic Thompson, ex-combatant of the War of Independence (1991-1995) whose lyrics celebrate the crimes of the Ustashi, the Croatian collaborators of Nazi Germany...
https://t.co/bUiyfA36aP
— Rouge Direct (@RougeDirect) January 2, 2023
“It seems harsh but you will ask him the question,” added the OL coach.
I cannot answer for him.
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Blanc addressed the journalists present at the press conference, in the following terms: “Here, there are certainly only respectable people… You only know respectable people in your entourage?
It may not seem in-depth to you, but I saw the thing he could bring as a player to the club.
I think he is a good recruit as a footballer.
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The former coach of the Blues (2010-2012) undertook to compartmentalize the various “compartments of the game”: “If we look at the man, it is your judgment.
Me, I look at the athlete.
I saw a very respectful man with his family, with his children and his wife.
You will have to ask him the question.
If you meet him, you will.
There are so many shocking things right now, and we can understand it, but here we are in a sports press conference.
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Blanc therefore sticks strictly to the field: “Honestly, if you want concrete answers, we are only football players.
We are not here to talk about much more serious things, which you mention.
This is my answer.
Dejan fulfilled what we were looking for, someone with experience because we lacked it behind.
He knew the very high level.
And as I explain, when you want to educate, intervene and be a leader, you have to speak the language.
Dejan fulfills all these functions.
He will be there from January 6 or 7.
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