He was visibly annoyed. Asked this Thursday at a press conference about the individual errors of some of his players this Tuesday against Quevilly Rouen Métropole (3-2), Albert Riera, the coach of the Girondins de Bordeaux, adopted a strange strategy. To defend, among others, midfielder Gaëtan Weissbeck, who received a red card, and goalkeeper Rafal Straczek, author of a blunder on the opening score for the Yellow and Red, the Spanish technician went launched into a comparison with…Zinédine Zidane’s headbutt on Marco Materazzi in the 2006 World Cup final. “Dumplings? What does ‘dumpling’ mean? It’s incredible…Zinédine Zidane, one of the best players in the world, what he did at the World Cup (his header in the 2006 World Cup final, editor’s note), that’s a blast,” said he first said.
Before explaining why, according to him, the errors of his players are more “accidents” than “balls”. “Making a technical error, because he received the pass here before hitting and taking the goal, for me, it’s not a mistake. Do you think he wanted to do that? Do you think Gaëtan (Weissbeck, editor’s note) wanted to get a red card? Whether it was a mistake, fine. That he arrived late, fine. Bad position, fine. Do you think Rafal (Straczek, editor’s note) wanted to score? That he wants to break up this band? It was an accident, he said. Three accidents and then what do I do? We understand things differently in life. If we take the example of Zidane, for me, it’s a terrible fine. But how many times have I said that football is a game of mistakes?
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As a reminder, the Girondins de Bordeaux are in bad shape. After 17 Ligue 2 matches played, they are in the red zone, occupying 17th place in the standings. Arriving on October 12, Albert Riera, for the moment, has not succeeded in turning around the club whose colors he wore between 2003 and 2005. He has 2 victories, 1 draw and 4 defeats. Suffice to say that the situation is complicated for the team led by Gérard Lopez.
