From our special correspondent in Paderborn,
What if the secret of victory lay between four walls, those of a small German inn lost in the Lower Saxony countryside? In any case, this is what emerged for the French team during the 2006 World Cup, as told by our colleagues from The Team. At that time, in fact, the Blues were used to leaving the base camp in cars with tinted windows to meet all together in the greatest secrecy, without the coach and the staff, to share a moment of conviviality the day after victory, in an inn found we don’t really know how.
On the menu, barbecues, cigarettes, beers and laughs. If this is obviously not enough to explain the good performance of the Blues at the World Cup, only beaten by Italy in the final on penalties, this parenthesis of freedom has greatly contributed to uniting the group and giving it wings. “It was exceptional. We brought merguez from Berlin because they were the best. Magnificent moments, four hours at the table, a fabulous atmosphere. It was in a small lost inn, a few kilometers from our hotel,” Zinédine Zidane will tell in 2022 in The Team.
So, since the Blues of 2024 have chosen to settle down not far from there, in Bad Lippspringe, in the northern suburbs of Paderborn, why wouldn’t they take an example from their cheerful elders by finding refuge in a nice HQ to stay there a little good time? We asked Olivier Giroud the question on Thursday at a press conference but, unsurprisingly, the dean of the French team did not really validate our idea.
“Obviously, apart from the base camp, we haven’t seen much here. We are green, calm, peaceful in our little village. We will work in peace and serenity. But we don’t think about celebrating early, we have to do the work on the ground first. So we didn’t do any scouting or anything,” he assured.
“Paderboring” lives up to its (sur)name
Never mind ! In the event that the Deschamps gang changes their minds, the sports department of 20 minutes got mobilized and set off in search of the ideal bar to down a few glasses and grill some sausages. Put it this way, the mission doesn’t really seem impossible.
But make no mistake, it was more complicated than it seems. It didn’t take us more than two hours wandering the streets of Paderborn to understand where its nickname “Paderboring” came from. If we put aside the small soulless cafes and the two or three restaurants of the same ilk, it’s difficult to find anything that even remotely resembles a cozy bistro.
On the verge of throwing in the towel and returning home, we still ended up finding our happiness. At the end of a small, seemingly ordinary alley, there stands an Irish pub with a green and yellow facade: The Auld Triangle. It’s 6 p.m. and Allan, the bartender, has only just opened the doors. We will be his first customers. Arriving in Germany six years ago with the idea of having a little experience abroad, he never left. He likes both the tranquility of the city and the slightly more unbridled atmosphere of “the only bar that really moves around here”, according to the person concerned.
Mbappé now has his cocktail
“It’s true that Paderborn is rather quiet,” he laughs. Except here, on the weekend, where everyone gets together. The pub is full every Friday and Saturday evening. In addition with the match, this evening, it risks being the same (Friday Germany faced Scotland in the opening match of the Euro). We also do karaoke, quizzes and concerts. If I were the French team and I had to find a nice place not too far from the hotel, this is where I would come. » Second customer to show up, Christian, 56, agrees.
“ What I like is that it’s multicultural and you never get bored. There’s a phrase that sometimes flashes across the screens that says ‘There are no strangers here, only friends you don’t know yet’. I think that sums up the idea of this place well. There are people from everywhere. If the players of the France team have to go out, this is necessarily where they will come. In Bad Lippspringe, it’s really small and there’s not much to do there. »
The boss would still have to agree to privatize the premises. “We can ask him,” said Allan, “but given how many people there are here on weekends, we would have to do that during the week. Unless the team drops a big ticket (laughs)! » As the minutes pass, while the Nationalmannschaft match only starts in three hours, the pub fills up visibly and our bartender soon no longer has time to answer our questions.
Which doesn’t stop him from thinking and coming back to us with an idea for a cocktail which, he assures us, would suit Kylian Mbappé perfectly. Its name, “purple rain”. For what ? Because, as its name absolutely does not indicate, it turns blue with Curaçao mixed with vodka. “And there’s also peach liqueur,” he continues. Peach which, in English, is “peach”. “And since Mbappé is a ‘peachy player’ (a super player), I think it fits well! », laughs our chief mixologist. I promise, we’ll pass the message on to him sometime.