Paris Trainer Lacombe considers Boleslav players have little experience

04. 12. 2006 |  

What do you consider as the greatest success of your football career so far?

"As a player certainly the Olympic title and as a trainer the French cup, because we won it against Olympique Marseille."

Do you still have any unfulfilled football wishes?

"Yes, to win all the titles we do not yet have."

Who do you consider the greatest favourite for promotion from the G group of the UEFA Cup to the spring phase?

"I consider that Panathinaikos Athens and Rapid Bucharest have the greatest chance of promotion."

Even though Olympique Marseille is a great rival of Paris SG, did you consult the Marseille trainer about his experience from two matches with Mladá Boleslav?

"I know the trainer of Olympique Marseille very well as we used to play together and so I naturally asked him for his findings from the matches with Mladá Boleslav."

Did David Rozehnal help you in acquiring information and getting to know the Czech opponent with any original comments?

"Just before the match on Thursday I will consult him about some things, because he knows Czech football well."

What all do you know about the footballers of FK Mladá Boleslav?

"I knew hardly anything about them except that they beat Olympique Marseille. Which is why I came to Mladá Boleslav in person for the match with Panathinaikos Athens."

What do you see as the playing strengths of Mladá Boleslav?

"After watching the match we judged that the players of Mladá Boleslav are accurate but inexperienced. Most of all, however, we discussed the cold weather during the match as this could have threatened the result of the match and we will have to take it into account also for our match."

What result would satisfy you in the match with Mladá Boleslav?

"I will be satisfied if we win. We definitely want a good result."

In the seventies and eighties Guy Lacombe was one of the most feared French forwards, which meant that for a number of seasons he was an essential member of the cadre of the national team with the symbol of the cock of Gaul. He also played three times against what was then Czechoslovakia. For the first time it was in April 1974 in Prague on Letná where the future European champions in Belgrade (1976) played to a fiery draw with France of 3:3. The lion's share here was that of Guy Lacombe, who put the French away players twice into the lead. In the 28th minute he raised the score to 2:0 and in the 72nd minute to 3:2. The result was definitively decided three minutes before the end by Antonín Panenka, who was the only member of the Czechoslovak national team who participated in all three of the duels mentioned. The next match was in the qualifications for the European Championship of 1980 in November 1979 at the Paris stadium of Parc des Princes where the French won 2:1. After a goal-free first half Lacombe stayed in the cabin and was replaced by Pécaut. The last match took place on neutral ground in Valladolid in Spain and closed the program of the basic group of the World Championship in 1982. In the 70th minute Lacombe and Panenka met on the sideline. The French forward was going to the bench, whereas the Vršovice game-maker had been sent in by trainer Jozef Vengloš as the joker when the score was an unfavourable 0:1. Six minutes before the end Panenka equalised from a penalty and in extra time he centred to Bičovský whose header was headed away from the goal line by back Amoros. If he had not been successful in this, the Czechoslovak team would have continued in the championship and the French would have packed up and gone home. The reality was precisely the opposite.

The text on the profile of Paris Saint Germain trainer Guy Lacombe was prepared in cooperation with Václav Tichý, media worker of the Football Association of the Czech Republic.