He manages to contain his emotion but it is there very close, ready to emerge at the turn of a glance a little too pressed. For him, the adventure is over. On a lost derby. Eliminated in the play-off of the Top 14 by Racing (20-33) this Saturday on his lawn of Jean-Bouin, Gonzalo Quesada leaves the Stade Français he had joined in 2020. Disappointment and sadness mingle with a certain pride. The Argentine leaves a club in a much better situation than the one he found when he arrived three years ago but he will not have managed to lead it to the title of champion of France as he had done in 2015 during his first stint from 2013 to 2017.
"My main idea is to cut a little"
"Of course it's a shame," he says. I'm disappointed because I'll never know what would have happened if we hadn't played 14 against 15 (Editor's note: from the 6th minute). There is a bit of pride anyway because we were able to react. We will have to take stock later. Obviously, we dreamed of going a little further. We thought it was possible. The story ends there. It's difficult. »
The coach, whose fate had been sealed in early October by his president Hans-Peter Wild, reducing his contract by one season to recruit Laurent Labit and Karim Ghezal, Fabien Galthié's assistants, just after the World Cup (September 8 - October 28), measures the strength of these few months spent with a united squad behind him. "If we had said in early October that we would access the dams, we would not necessarily have believed it," he says. Despite all this instability, I am very proud of this group, this staff, who have remained loyal and committed. »
While Laurent Travers listens to answer questions in the press room, the Argentine turns to the manager of Racing. "As I said to Toto (Travers) at the end of the match, my main idea is to cut a little," said Gonzalo Quesada. I still want to coach, I think I'm better than when I arrived here. It is not a lack of energy but you have to choose your project well. Moreover, I notice by seeing the contacts I have lately, that it is when you do not want to do something that you become attractive. I leave in peace. In Spanish, the expression does not mean that I will die but that I leave with the feeling of accomplishment. »