Arnaud Pouille (general manager of Lens, after the draw for the group stage of C1): “Already, it’s nice to know who we’re playing against. The players stamp their feet, the supporters too. Besides, it’s nice, it’s a wink with the story of finding Arsenal. There are neighboring clubs, it’s cool for our supporters. Sevilla, seven-time Europa League winners… They’re a nice group. It’s great and it makes a connection between the generations for those who knew Arsenal 25 years ago and who will go to the stadium with their children. For our club, it’s nice. Sevilla is a club we have never faced, PSV too. We are also almost neighbors with Eindhoven, it’s like London. Who to fear most? The team that Franck (Haise) fears the most is… Monaco for next weekend (laughs)! For the rest, we will settle with the coach, the championship is important. We have time to see the C1 arrive quietly. (…)
The goal? Like in the league, fun through play. We’ll start by trying to play well and we’ll see where that takes us. The transfer window? Luckily we didn’t wait for the draw to do what we had to do, a priori we’re done… but there are 24 hours left. Habib Diarra from Strasbourg? No, I think they don’t want to let it go (laughs). The start of the season? We started badly in Brest and we faced two great teams, including a well-reinforced PSG. We’re going to Monaco next weekend, we’ll see…” (on beIN SPORTS and the L’Équipe Channel)