Christophe Galtier: 'It was important for the youngsters to play'

christophe galtier

"The most important thing is obviously to qualify. I think that the second part of the first half was complicated for us. But at the same time, our first 20 minutes were interesting, with several chances and the opener. I think that when we scored the first goal, we thought that the match was going to be easy. But no, because up against us, we had a good team, who also played on a very good pitch. For the last 15-20 minutes of the first half, we were divided in two. This gave the opposition a lot of hope, and we conceded an unlucky goal. But we really weren't good at the end of the first half. In the second half, we needed to refocus, and I set out my expectations for the match once again in the dressing room, especially for the team as a whole. The second half was much more in line with what I expected and I think we deserved to win based on what we did, particularly in the second half.

The youngsters? It was important in my view, that the players who have been working with us throughout the week for a while now, get the chance to play, but not in a completely changed side, but playing them because I believe in them. And the club also needs to believe in the quality of our young players. There were two options: either they were going to come on during the match, or they were going to start. It seemed most appropriate to start them and when the match was going to be slightly more tricky, my senior players could take over, and that's what they did when they came on."

Warren Zaïre-Emery

"I am very happy to have got my first start. I played 90 minutes, I am very happy and I hope that there will be other opportunities in the future. We came for that, it's an objective for the club, and for everybody. We came to qualify. They are a team that caused us lots of problems, but we were able to get past these problems and win as the match drew to a close."

Ilyes Housni

"We are happy today because we won. But it was difficult. We were able to maintain the rhythm as a team and took advantage of that at the end. So we are happy to have qualified. To start with, I was meant to come on and the coach told me to wait. Then, I came on and I think I played a little more than five minutes. I tried to give my all. We won, I tried to create a chance for myself, but I missed. That will help me for next time."