“It’s true that I’m very lucky, we don’t work in training,” quips Genesio before Lille-Juventus

The (long) list of absentees against Juventus

“Of course, there are three absent players that you know: Sam (Umtiti), Nabil (Bentaleb) and Thiago (Santos) who have had surgery. Ethan (Mbappé) is still at a standstill, like Hakon (Haraldsson) and André Gomes is both injured and not qualified. Rémy Cabella is not recovered, Ousmane Touré and Thomas Meunier were injured during the match against Lyon. Ismaily is not fully recovered to be in the squad tomorrow. And Rafael Fernandes, Aaron Malouda and Akim Zedadka are not on the list.

Ousmane Touré injured against Lyon

“When he came home, he felt pain in his thigh. We will know more about the duration of his unavailability but it will not be possible to have him in the group for tomorrow.

The keys to the match against Juve

“Each C1 match is different but the essential parameter each time is commitment. Intensity and commitment are the necessary conditions to achieve results. (Juventus), it’s a very well organized team tactically, difficult to play with a lot of individuality. But what is important is to be aware that you have already done two feats, so you must be able to reproduce it when you have already done it twice. It will be a very difficult match but we will play our luck to the fullest, we are at home. Our public will help us, give us strength.”

The great form of goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier

“It gives confidence to the whole team, to the defense already but not only. When you have a very high level goalkeeper who either keeps you in the match or allows you to keep a result like against Atlético, it gives a lot of confidence. But I always say that it’s the group strength that is important. If Lucas is at this level today, it is because he feels that the group is making a lot of effort in front of him to defend well. This gives him a lot of confidence, to be fulfilled in his role as goalkeeper.

The prospects of qualifying for the play-offs

“If we make a table before the competition, when you play Sporting away, (Real) Madrid here and Atlético away, maybe we could have predicted one or three points , we have six today having played the two biggest teams in the group… with Juve anyway and Liverpool (laughs). But in any case, it gives us confidence. This doesn’t mean that we are qualified or that everything will go perfectly well by the end of the competition. But when you’ve beaten these kinds of teams before, you’re capable of doing it again. And that too is an undeniable plus.”

A look at LOSC after its two exploits

“I don’t pay too much attention to all that. The teams certainly take us more seriously. But regarding the image, or what we give off, I haven’t necessarily seen any changes.”

The effectiveness of Jonathan David from the penalty spot

“’Jona’ practices almost every day before a match, most often without a goalkeeper. But more often than not, it’s next door (smile). So I sometimes chamber him but Jona’s great strength is that his blood is very, very cold. For me, this is the greatest quality to have when taking a penalty. It’s technique of course but the most important thing is to be able to wait seven, eight minutes like in Lens. It’s about managing emotions, emptying your mind, being focused, ignoring the consequences of whether or not you succeed in taking the shot on goal. He is imperturbable about it, in his game too. He has great confidence in himself, he can miss two clear chances in a match, but he will not doubt about the third.

The lack of recognition of French coaches

“Defending French coaches yes, but that does not mean that there are no quality foreign coaches, in France and elsewhere. But I find that we value people who come from abroad much more than French coaches. To avoid controversy, I am not going to talk about myself but about Eric Roy. Do you hear a lot about Eric Roy who is doing extraordinary things, in the Champions League and in the championship? In the championship too, before and after (the Champions League), most often he achieved extraordinary results. But we don’t talk about it a lot, we don’t say it’s great… It’s just that. There is no question of making a split between French and foreign coaches. But I find that, in France, we do not necessarily highlight, when this is the case, the work of French coaches. For what ? I don’t know, you tell me.”

Lille’s success in C1

“I saw a lot of comments saying that we had been very lucky in the last few matches, that I had been very lucky. It’s true, I have a lot and I hope I will have more tomorrow to beat Juve. In fact, we don’t work in training, we just rely on luck.”

The importance of victory

“Statistically, we would have a two in three chance of being in the play-off. On my chat? I won’t talk about it, I very rarely talk about the result but rather about how to play, how to expect the result. I believe that it is the most important to have positive but also to remove the negative pressure on the raw result, the qualification… But it is true that we would take a big step towards qualification in the event of a positive result tomorrow, which would be something quite extraordinary having faced three teams from hats one and two after four games. But we’re not there yet, there’s a big team up front, a big club, we’re forgetting the history of this club a little. It will be very complicated tomorrow.”

The place of young players

“Have young people play? It is not a constraint, a choice of course because financially it is simpler to train young players, we must not hide it. Training is a pillar of the club. We also recruited young players who come from outside, like Osame (Sahraoui) and Mathias (Fernandez-Pardo), who are post-training players, with a little high-level experience. We have to supervise them with experience, players who are well established at LOSC like our captain (Benjamin André). The combination of these parameters is important.”

The approach to the match against Thiago Motta

“We are not going to deny ourselves, I had already said it before Real. Afterwards, there is what we want to do, what we can do and what the opponent will let us do. It’s always a balance of power. We are at home, we want to impose our game but we also know that there will be times when we will have to be very solid. It’s a very well organized team with a coach who, as a player, already had a very, very important tactical culture. He passed it on to his team. We will have to play a match, once again, almost perfect to obtain a positive result.