The 56-year-old coach spoke at a press conference after Juventus-PSG (1-2) on Wednesday evening.
His feeling after this insufficient victory : «No anger. My first words go to my group, my team, which had a very good run and came to win here. Even though a lot of people might think it was easy to do it because Juve were weak, she made the game difficult for us. But we also made it difficult for Juve and it’s a great performance to have won here. We beat them twice. My players had a good group stage. After… We knew the rules and there was this possibility. I don’t know if it had ever happened, losing a place in the number of away goals scored. In the 90th minute, we were first. At the 92nd, we find ourselves second … Congratulations to Benfica. They put in a great performance (6-1 victory over Maccabi Haifa, editor’s note). We are the only two teams in Europe not to have lost this season. We are going to wait calmly, quietly for the draw. The players did the job, they were very serious in this competition. Since I arrived, I have often spoken to you about the Champions League by evoking irrational things. I think tonight was irrational. But I am going to open a small parenthesis that I will close as quickly: by leading 7-2 last week, we stopped playing in the 90th minute, us (the referees had indeed stopped the PSG-Macabi Haifa match at the end of regulation time, without allowing stoppage time to play, contrary to what happened on Wednesday in Israel, editor’s note). That’s also the details. But there is also an important line of work: we have conceded far too many goals from set pieces in this competition. If we had taken one less, especially in the last match against Haifa, we would be in 8th with first place tonight… But once again, I’m proud of my group, proud of what it produces. We were able to move from one system to another in this competition by being efficient, by scoring goals. There is the draw. We will wait for that calmly. In any case, if you want to go far, you will have to beat big teams. It is very likely that we can draw a great team. We will have to prepare for it, improve in this area of set pieces and others, and we will see what state we will be in at the time of the round of 16 and what state the other teams will be in too.»
Carlos Soler and the one who replaced him, Hugo Ekitike : «Every time we put Carlos in this register and he replaces Ney, there is a comparison. Obviously, the Leo / Ney / Kylian association has a lot of benchmarks, everyone is in their role, in their preferential zone and there is a great connection between the three. In the first half, we were caught on a lot of pressing and Carlos was in trouble. He plays in a sector where he needs more benchmarks and time to have this connection with the other players. More comfortable in the heart of the game? His register is to be in a three-man environment. He can also find himself in a line of four like an eccentric in false foot. These are its characteristics. In Valencia and in the national team, he is often in this register, with three in the middle. But the absence of Ney made me choose Carlos a little higher. It lacks landmarks. It was a choice that I assume. The other possibility was to start Hugo but in C1, in a good atmosphere and in a match with a lot of pressure and intensity, I chose Carlos, who is obviously more comfortable in its register, at three in the middle and in particular on the left of this triangle. Regarding Hugo, we were obviously informed of what was happening in Haifa. We had to bring freshness and a little more offensive weight. Hugo entered this very rhythmic, very committed match. He brought what he could bring, he worked for the team and in one or two situations, he could have been better placed in the box, a ball could have reached him. But he also discovers this very high level and therefore difficult competition.»
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The middle in difficulty in the first period : «We lacked mobility inside the game. We had a very quick change with the exit of Fabian (Ruiz, injured and replaced by Renato Sanches in the 21st). They were very high, and especially on our 6 meters. It would have been necessary to play faster to prevent them from recovering. We took too long when the ball went out of goal and that favored them. We had to play long but we don’t have a point of fixation in front and even less after Fabian’s exit.»
If we had told you that we were going to win 2-1 in Turin, would you have thought that we would finish second?
Christophe Galtier
Lessons from second place : «I put the question back to you: if we had told you that we were going to win 2-1 in Turin, would you have thought that we would finish second? There was little chance of that happening, but those are the Champions League details. We took a goal from a set piece against Juve, a penalty that we could have avoided against Benfica and two goals from a set piece against Haifa. From then on, this is one of the areas of improvement on which we will work a lot.»
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The speech at the break : «The first period was complicated because we had a lot of pressure in front. The difference between the first and the second period is that we didn’t have enough mobility, we usually have a lot more movement and especially in the three or even four midfielders, including Leo who comes to integrate in the game. There are movements that we are used to making while we have remained on positional play. It favored the Italian pressure. Faced with a lot of pressure, and that’s what I said at the break, you need more movement and knowing how to be much more vertical. There were opportunities. Kylian’s opponent had taken a warning. Sometimes it would have been necessary to jump the line, find depth and create one-on-one for Kylian. That’s what I said, but above all to be much more on the move, that was the case.»
The last minutes : «I was informed of everything that was happening in Haifa. If I made two changes shortly after the hour mark (Mendes and Ekitike in place of Bernat and Soler in the 68th minute, editor’s note), it was because I realized that I had to win because Benfica had taken the lead. I was also informed that it was 5-1 in the 89th minute. But at 5-1, we were still first… Two or three minutes from the end, it is very difficult to upset everything. On the field, the players think they finish first. I know that it is 5-1 and that if they score in the additional time they had it would be complicated. But again, I was informed and my two changes were also made in this sense, when Benfica took the lead.»
Statements taken at a press conference
