After a brief stint at PSG, OGC Nice goalkeeper Marcin Bulka, already decisive with the Riviera club two years ago in the Coupe de France at the Parc des Princes, intends to repeat his performance on Wednesday (9:10 p.m., beIN SPORTS and France 3) in the quarter-finals and get the Aiglons out of the crisis.
Arriving free from Chelsea in the summer of 2019, at the age of 18, Bulka only played two league matches for the capital club during his career. The first in Metz (2-0) at the end of August 2019 and the last in Lens (0-1) in September 2020. The Pole, on the bench during the Champions League final lost in 2020, therefore did not have the possibility of showing his qualities to the Parisian public only under the colors of Nice, where he was loaned in the summer of 2021 before being permanently transferred there. “Even if I played there, it’s a match like any other,” assured the young 24-year-old Polish international, who played two matches with Nice in Paris. Each time, he emerged victorious.
This season, the Gym won (3-2) after a high-level collective performance. “We are the only team to have won at the Parc this season,” said Bulka. So, even though time has passed since then, we are able to do it.” Especially since, without extra time, Coupe de France matches now go more easily to penalties, a great specialty of the Nice goalkeeper. It is in this area that he revealed himself to the general public.
It was the first time he met his former club, on January 31, 2022, in the round of 16 of the Coupe de France. After preserving his goals (0-0), Bulka took two shots on goal in the final session. Nice qualified, before losing the final against Nantes (0-1). Does Nice want this scenario? “With Donnarumma, Paris has a goalkeeper at least as competitive as Marcin in this area,” replied Francesco Farioli, “but like every week before a Cup match, we added penalty shootout sessions during training.”
This possible session was also worked on by the Parisian club: “last week, we worked on penalties before Real Sociedad, this week too,” Luis Enrique told PSG TV on Tuesday, according to whom “it’s before “all mental and it’s impossible to train players in match conditions”, while the Spaniard “hopes we won’t go that far”.
Just like the Nice goalkeeper: “I hope that we will qualify before then, but we know that it is a possibility. I will have to do my job. But it’s not because I’ve stopped several penalties this season that I need to put pressure on myself,” the goalkeeper explained on the subject, “it’s impossible to stop them all.”
Also read: PSG: “Before arriving, I thought Ligue 1 was easy,” admits Luis Enrique
Against Montpellier in Ligue 1 (2-1 defeat), he was unable to fend off that of Teji Savanier (1-2), “a good shooter”. This penalty propelled Nice into the crisis, from which “we will emerge with a victory,” argued Bulka. “This bad period lasts longer than expected, but this match in Paris can change the rest of the season,” said the 2-meter giant. We haven’t lost anything yet! We are still in the race. Even if the defeats against Lyon (1-0) or Montpellier (2-1), where we dominated, hurt, we must forget them,” he concluded, and “if we continue to talk about a crisis, We are going to enter the field with defeat in our heads.” However, “it’s time to react” for Nice.