Zoumana Camara: "We're ready to play this big game"

Zoumana, HOW HAS THE SQUAD APPROACHED THE league RUN-In?

"These are young players that we're trying to get ready for the highest level. Of course, the end result and winning aren't everything, but they're part of it. That winning mindset needs to be rooted within them, and they need to have it already. I set them a challenge: if we won all of our games and beat our direct competitors, we would overtake them, and that's what we managed to do. As a manager, if you do things that you don't believe in, the players can feel it. You need to be obsessed by and convinced of something if you want to convey it."

HOW DO YOU ASSESS THE WIN AWAY TO ANGERS?

"It wasn't easy. They finished top of their group, which wasn't an easy one with FC Nantes and some other great teams. We'd played them in a friendly and lost 1-0. In this game, they were 2-0 up after 20 minutes, but I knew that my players could dig deep and get back into it, and there was plenty of time to do so. They stayed calm and started getting the ball down and playing. Then, when you're 2-0 down and you make it 2-1, the other team can start doubting themselves, and that was the case. At half time, I gave the players one or two bits of advice, made a few readjustments and kept telling them that we could get back into the game and maybe even win it in normal time."

THERE'S A LOT OF TALENT WITHIN THE ACADEMY...

"There are a lot of players who didn't start out in this age category. If they can show that they're above the U17 standard and then display those qualities and those skills with the U19s, they deserve to play. That also proves that the players are showing maturity a lot earlier than players from previous years, which is a good thing for them. That said, we'll need to make sure that there's no complacency in this age category so that they keep improving, as they still have room for improvement. It's up to us to be demanding with them because they have areas in which to improve. One thing's for sure: there are three, four, five players showing promising signs, and I hope that they'll keep backing that up next season."

YOU'LL BE PLAYING MARSEILLE IN THE SEMI-FINALS. is that always a special fixture?

"They've given themselves the chance to play a game like that with their hard work. I told them, 'At the end of the season, the play-offs are every weekend. There are the quarter-finals, the semi-finals and the final. Give yourselves the chance to get there, do everything you can and make every effort to keep pushing it to the next week in order to go as far as possible.' They've given everything to get here, and that's all a credit to them. Now, we need to prepare properly and calmly so that by Sunday, we're ready to play this big game."

YOU ALSO EXTENDED YOUR CONTRACT RECENTLY...

"The board came forward early, before the end of the season, to ask me to extend my contract. That's a sign that they have faith in my work and that they're pretty satisfied. When you feel that faith, it's nice. I feel committed, and I'm approaching it with great responsibility. There's no reserve team, so the U19s are kind of a 'B' team that the first team dip into. I'm enjoying myself in my job and in what I do. It's about passing things on and, at the same time, learning. I'm happy with the work that the team has done and with the work that I do on a daily basis with the players. In a way, the club has given me a lot, and I'm trying to repay them."