OM fell into the group of Manchester City, FC Porto, and Olympiakos. Nevertheless, Pablo Longoria, the sporting director, remains hopeful!
Late on Thursday afternoon, Paris Saint-Germain, Stade Rennais, and Olympique de Marseille were going to find out what sauce they were going to be eaten as UEFA donated the Champions League group stage. Thus, OM inherited a relatively lenient draw by inheriting Manchester City, FC Porto, but also the defending Greek champion, Olympiakos. Guest of Telefoot, Pablo Longoria gave his feeling on this draw.
« A Champions League draw is always complicated. You play against the top 32, it motivates all the time. The team worked very well last year. It is a great price for the people we have today. We found an open group of C1,” the Spaniard began by explaining. But there will be a lot of reunions in Group C of the next Big Ears Cup.
AVB reunites with Porto
Indeed, Benjamin Mendy (Manchester City) and Mathieu Valbuena (Olympiakos) will return to OM. That’s not all! André Villas-Boas will return to FC Porto, his club of heart, which made him known to the whole of Europe. “We exchanged messages. I wrote to him: you’re back home!” It is a group in which we can say that there will be special meetings. André returns to Porto, it is his team of heart. It’s going to be a very emotional game. It’s always good news for André to return to Porto, in a team where he has done great things,” continued the head of football.
AVB kept saying it was for the experiment, but it would probably be complicated to get out of the pool. Can the absence of a scarecrow except Manchester City allow OM to dream? “Manchester City are one of the strongest teams in Europe, a team with important ambitions, a difficult team to face. With central defenders like Ake, Dias, or like Ferran Torres in front. They’re a tough team to face every year. OM still has an obligation to be competitive in Europe. It’s important to be in C1 because they are stronger teams. Our goal is to give this continuity and to be stable in Europe and to be competitive in Europe,” said the director-general in charge of football. First elements of response in October with the start of this new C1 campaign!
