Dans les mémoires - Épisodes 6 - La finale de Ligue des Champions 2020. 🔴🔵
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Transcript
You can't sleep. You just think, "This is it. We're here." In the end, it was that fear of our German opponents. We felt we could go all the way. Honestly, it didn't really feel like a Champions League final. We were just happy to be there. It was also very emotional. I have a close friend, James, who was very ill, and we wanted PSG to win for him. We were in Toronto, of course, but gatherings weren't allowed. So I was at home, alone, sad, but incredibly excited simultaneously. I didn't sleep the night before, just like back in May. You can't sleep, thinking: "This is it. We're finally here." I was in a London pub with other fans from the London fan club. We were all together, and we couldn't wait. It was our first final. We felt we could go all the way. I'd just started working in TV, so I was with all my colleagues. We all gathered on a rooftop to watch the Champions League final. It was a strange situation: the Final 8, empty stands... Lyon could have even made it to the final, but they were knocked out by Bayern. It could have been an incredible final. I watched it from the stands with the PSG staff, just up there. They broadcast the match at the stadium. I was actually very confident about that match. It was our first final, under strange circumstances, but we were all desperate to win it. Unfortunately, we quickly realised it was going to be extremely difficult. I felt like we only played at half-strength in the final against Bayern; we weren't at our physical peak. I feel like we didn't show up for our own final. We had clear chances to equalise, and we missed them. As the match went on, we realised it was going to be really tough. I could see that Bayern were a very strong team. And then there's always that fear of a German opponent in a final, especially with an ex-PSG player on their side. And once again, our fears came true. Sadly, we all know how it went. A local lad scores the only goal, and it ends 1-0. It was heartbreaking because we were so close. I have to admit, it was frustrating. I was sad not to be there, so I ended up commentating on it in a café with some fans. I kept telling myself, "It's not the end of the world." First of all, there was the whole health situation. A final in an empty stadium... I just couldn't get my head around it. The match against Dortmund, just before Covid hit, was electric. We could still experience football with real passion. But this final, I watched from a distance. It would have been amazing for the club's history, especially given the date. It was the club's 50th anniversary, an incredible occasion. It was frustrating not to be in the stands for our first ever Champions League final. It was frustrating from start to finish. I never felt... We had one chance, but it wasn't that clear-cut. It's not... It's a shame. A huge disappointment at the final whistle. But in the end, a lot of people said to me, and it's true in hindsight, that it was better to lose in that Covid format and then win it properly last year. It makes the club's first Champions League title an even sweeter memory. Obviously a huge disappointment and very sad at the time... But looking back, it was just a stepping stone to something even better. That one... I was truly gutted because we were so close. I'm sick of saying, "There's always next year." For me, that was our year. It didn't happen. And it took five years, from 2020 to 2025, to get back to a final. Before the match, I really thought we'd be European champions. I thought, "It's our time." Things happened that made the competition a bit strange that year, but we felt we could do it. And then at the end, I was disappointed, but in a way, I think the better team won on the day. When you think of 2025, you forget about 2020. We just got that bitter taste of losing a final. But given the circumstances, it didn't matter. Now, it's actually not a bad memory.