This Sunday at 9pm (CET) Paris Saint-Germain (1st) will face Brest (12th) at the Parc des Princes as part of the 33rd matchday of Ligue 1 2025-2026. In a press conference, Brest coach Eric Roy spoke about this match and their Parisian opponent. He was blunt with his players and his club as Brest are going through a difficult period.
Roy: “When you’re a professional football player, you get paid to play matches, with your mates…”
A lack of focus to explain the recent difficulties?
The idea of a lack of stakes… I don’t like that assessment. When you’re a professional football player, you get paid to play matches, with your mates… The stakes are already there: to enjoy yourself, to do your job, to work together.
Aren’t we also at fault at the club? Is there momentum within the club, once you’ve achieved the initial objective of staying up? Isn’t there an opportunity to set other goals, to motivate the players further? Today, we have a club that’s perhaps too complacent with what’s happening to it. Perhaps we need more ambition, and the players need to feel that too!
Roy: “The desire to play a great match at the Parc des Princes and to enjoy ourselves.”
How to approach the trip to Paris?
For our part, we must approach this match with the desire to play a great match at the Parc des Princes and to enjoy ourselves. We have nothing to lose. If I were still a player, I would love to play in such a big game in a great stadium, against the best team in the world… it’s hard to imagine a more exciting challenge. For Luck Zogbé and Raphaël Le Guen, the situation was complicated against Paris FC, but we mustn’t overreact.
This in no way diminishes the esteem and affection we have for them. They benefit from mitigating circumstances and have had individual discussions with the staff. I don’t condemn them, quite the opposite. We will continue to support them and move forward with them.
Roy: “Against PFC, we didn’t respect our values.”
What do you expect from your players?
“I expect a show of pride. Going to the Parc des Princes to face PSG is a prestigious match. Against PFC, we didn’t live up to our values.
If we repeat the same performance this weekend, it could be very difficult. Especially since they’ll be eager to clinch the title in front of their home crowd and put an end to the suspense. Honestly, we would have preferred them to have already secured the championship before our trip.”
