At Parc OL,
This November 14, 2021 will perhaps mark several decades of academic work. The theme ? How much can an extra-sporting event have an impact on athletic performance? It is indeed difficult to find a better example in contemporary history than this OL-PSG, which turned to the derail of anthology (6-1) for
a champion of France in title presenting however this season 10 victories in 10 official matches (34 goals scored, 0 conceded), and remaining on a 4-0 royal in
Champions League against Real Madrid.
Yes, but that was Tuesday night, in a euphoric Parc des Princes (18,344 spectators), with an omnipresent Aminata Diallo in the middle of the field. A few hours later, the international tricolor found himself in police custody, suspected of having played a central role in the assault on her teammate Kheira Hamraoui six days earlier.
“This locker room has died”
If no charge was ultimately retained against Aminata Diallo, this media whirlwind placed PSG in an extremely special situation before this traditional “first leg” of D1 (7 successes in as many days for the two rivals). “Everything has become darker”, sums up the Parisian coach Didier Ollé-Nicolle, very upset against the FFF, who refused the request for postponement of the match requested by PSG on Friday.
“Compared to the ethics that women’s football should have, it’s not good to have had to play. There are only 12 teams in our league so there are plenty of dates to play this game. It is incredible that the authorities did not see that our group was in distress. There are a lot of people who are affected. Do you realize the noise it made? This locker room is gone. It’s not easy to hear all about that and try to find a place for football. “
To the point of estimating that this season of women’s D1 has already been distorted? “Certainly because it had big consequences, we were hurt psychologically and morally,” insists Didier Ollé-Nicolle. Finally, what elements observed Sunday evening at the Parc OL could push us to go in the direction of the Parisian coach?
OL-PSG shocks have all become tight or almost
For four years, clashes between Lyonnaises and Parisiennes are almost more frequent in a season than Barça-Real Guardiola-Mourinho period. D1, Coupe de France, Trophy of the champions, and obviously the Champions League, there were no less than 15 meetings over this period, only one of which ended with more than a goal difference. It was in this case a manita very striking (already at the Parc OL) to determine the 2019 French champion. But that is to say if the balance of power has tightened over time and that this 6-1 slap on Sunday looks like a sporting anomaly in view of the regularity of this PSG. “It was not the real team of Paris Saint-Germain”, loose Didier Ollé-Nicolle. An observation precipitated by
premature expulsion (and quite severe) of Ashley Lawrence (at 2-0, 26th).
Impervious defense suddenly adrift
Ok, Soyaux, Dijon and Guingamp do not have offensive assets such as Macario, Malard, Cascarino and Hegerberg. But the performance of the Parisian defense and its Czech goalkeeper Barbora Votikova, until then invincible, including in the Champions League, could not be seen as anecdotal. So seeing all these beautiful people, led by the Dudek-Ilestedt tandem, implode at this point for 90 minutes, was something abnormal.
“We do not take a goal of the season, and there, we cash on set pieces or terrible misses in our penalty area, comments the Parisian coach. When we see the 3rd, 4th and 5th goal, it doesn’t even happen to us in training on simple little games… ”Indeed, between De Almeida, Katoto, Ilestedt and Votikova, the responsibilities are multiple on the festival of goals conceded. “No one could answer this, there was a lot of mental fatigue,” insists Didier Ollé-Nicolle, while unsurprisingly in view of the context, no Parisian player appeared in front of the press on Sunday evening.
No trade number 6 available due to the Hamraoui affair
To immediately catch waves from a team pressing high at all costs, nothing better than to align an experimental defensive midfielder, namely Elisa De Almeida, usually in the axis of the defense. A daring bet, but above all forced side Didier Ollé-Nicolle, because of the packages of Kheira Hamraoui and Aminata Diallo (“a choice in line with the player to protect her from this context”, says the sports director of the club’s women Parisian Ulrich Ramé about Diallo.
Didier Ollé-Nicolle retraces the trajectories of his two absent in the evening: “We have two number 6 at the club that we relaunched at the start of the season. They had to work a lot to come back after complicated years. They returned to the France team and since then everything has gone into a spin. »Like this open house evening (double tour) at Parc OL.
🗨️ “The two players are greatly touched and tested, we have been supporting them from the start (…)”
Ulrich Ramé gives us news of Kheira Hamraoui and Aminata Diallo after #OLPSG. pic.twitter.com/0j0ako3Wda
– Canal Football Club (@CanalFootClub) November 14, 2021
Coach not even up against his squad after a beating
“In normal times, after a stinging defeat like that, a coach takes responsibility for the choices made, decrypts Didier Ollé-Nicolle. There, we had almost our usual team. We can press where it hurts when players have not followed the instructions. There it is completely different. This group must leave humanely and psychologically as quickly as possible. “Before a new Real-PSG Wednesday, the technician of PSG thus recalled that a psychological cell outside the PSG was quickly set up, and that it” found the group very touched by what it is. has passed “.
On the Lyon side too, the consequences were not neutral to believe the coach Sonia bompastor : “The current context around PSG has impacted beyond Paris, the whole of women’s football was affected, me too on a personal level, just like some players in the group, at different levels. But we are professionals and I am proud that we were able to focus on the sporting issue during the match ”. Finally, Paris took the house price by this OL Bompastor version, which has passed four goals or more to its six other opponents in D1 so far, except Reims (3-0).