Only just back from their midweek trip to Austria, Les Aiglons were already back on the training pitch on Friday. It was the opportunity for Valentin Eysseric to look back at his side’s excellent Europa League win before looking ahead to Sunday’s Ligue 1 match away to Metz (kick-off 17:00 CET).

Valentin, after two defeats, has Le Gym finally got to grips with the Europa League?
We played well and got a good result. Despite our lack of experience in this competition, we managed to get a positive result and keep our hopes alive of qualifying for the next round. We could have scored more and won more comfortably, but we are completely satisfied with the 1-0 win.

Since the start of the season, we can see that the whole squad is pulling in the same direction…
And it’s working really well! We have a really good squad with quality players and there’s an excellent atmosphere within the squad. No matter who is in the starting XI, there’s a really positive vibe and that’s what is proving the difference.

Saturday, the team leaves for Metz. Once again, the match will be played without any Nice supporters at the game... What do you think of this situation?
Once again, they have been denied the right to travel to the match. It’s so disappointing to see this still happening in 2016. For us, the players, when you see 1,260 travelling fans in the stadium, it’s incredible! It’s suddenly a totally different match. It’s a real shame for Sunday’s game; a shame for the supporters, a shame for the players and a shame for Ligue 1. The atmosphere inside a ground is all part of football and in Metz, something will be missing without their presence.

 

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