Racing ends the season 15th, “it can happen when the planets don’t align”



Habib Diallo opened the scoring for Racing. – AFP

  • RC Strasbourg and FC Lorient drew 1-1 on the 38th day of Ligue 1, Sunday at La Meinau.
  • Thanks to this result, Racing remains in the elite at the end of a complicated season.
  • “Each time there was a game to win to cross a course, we have not succeeded”, sums up defender Alexander Dijku lucidly.

At the Meinau stadium,

Jubilation on one side, indifference on the other … The draw (1-1) between RC Strasbourg and FC Lorient did not provoke the same reactions from the two teams on Sunday evening. While the Bretons celebrated their demeanor with dignity, the Alsatians left the field almost in silence. As if, ultimately, their retention in Ligue 1 was not worthy of being saluted.

“We wanted to win this last game so taking this 1-1 goal frustrated us. But we exploded with joy in the locker room… ”, explains Racing defender Alexander Dijku, whose team opened the scoring thanks to Diallo (1-0, 18th). “Even if we should not be more royalist than the king, we would have liked to finish in a more rewarding place, supports his coach Thierry Laurey. With just one more goal, we were 13th. But 15th, in a club like ours when the planets don’t line up, it can happen. “

This final classification is even quite logical since Racing had already occupied it twelve times before this final outing. He had never even gone higher than 13th, a sign of his sickly irregularity throughout the season. Stefan Mitrovic’s partners have never been able to string together more than three victories in a row …

“Each time there has been a meeting to win to take a step forward, we have not succeeded,” summarizes Dijku lucidly. “There were some important games that we mismanaged. As against Brest (2-2) or Nantes (1-2) at home, which cost us points, ”adds his coach, also referring to“ the vagaries that have plagued us the season ”. It had started in summer preparation with a dozen positive cases for Covid-19 within the workforce or the serious injuries of goalkeeper Matz Sels and striker Lebo Mothiba.

From this catastrophic departure, the Alsatians never really recovered. Except maybe in January when they finally had a series of successes. Not too long. The soufflé quickly fell, never maintained by a successful collective game. And Racing slowly rolled back down to the point of experiencing the last stressful days.

“This team held up”

“Personally, I did not see a big risk in this last match, You can take it as pretension but it’s not my problem”, relativizes Thierry Laurey by praising the state of mind of his group. “This team had jumps in concentration, made mistakes, but it held up. The boys have always been up to the task mentally. “

“In difficult times, we have remained united and united. In Metz (2-1), Nice (2-0), against Monaco (1-0) also, we signed important victories. We have to remember our strength of character, ”adds Alexander Djiku, smiling and above all happy to finally be on vacation. Before that, he will spend this Monday, like all his partners, an individual interview with his leaders.





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