Sorry Ange, the coldest quote of the season belongs to the Botafogo manager
Ange Postecoglou has been usurped as the author of the season’s best quote after Botafogo manager Renato Paiva said “the football graveyard is full of favourites” before beating PSG.
The Club World Cup has already thrown up plenty of hammerings and many would have predicted that 2024 Copa Libertadores winners Botafogo may have been in for a smaller treatment when they faced European champions PSG.
And yet, it is Luis Enquire’s side that is left licking its wounds following a 1-0 win for the Brazilian club in the group stage game.
Igor Jesus scored the only goal of the game in the 36th minute of a match that saw PSG register 16 shots to Botafoga’s four.
The result is the biggest upset of the tournament so far but one man who was not surprised was Botafogo boss Paiva.
Speaking ahead of the game, the 55-year-old Portuguese manager produced one of the coldest quotes of the season:
“I think the football graveyard is full of favourites,” he said. “It’s a game, there are probabilities, but those of us who prepare the games do the same thing.
“I want my team to do certain things, to correct what went wrong, and in the last game there were many things, to see the opponent’s weaknesses and, from there, fight for the three points.
“If you enter into this field of favouritism, it’s an emotional area that you can’t control. It’s the impact that I want to remove. The opponent is who they are, but they also win, lose and draw. If they say we’re favourites, we can go into the game comfortable; if they say we’re worse, they might go in scared. I want them to be themselves. That’s all.”
Paiva’s pre-match motivation clearly worked with his opposite number Enrique commenting that Botafogo’s defending was the best PSG had faced all season.
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“Botafogo is the team that has defended best against us this season, both in the league and Champions League,” Enrique said.
“We didn’t generate as many chances as usual. We’re used to playing against deep blocks, but it’s very difficult. Congratulations to them. In terms of attitude, we were very good. The result shouldn’t erase everything. We have to look at what we did well and what we can improve.”
The result leaves PSG second in Group B, three points off Botafogo who have a 100% record so far. Elsewhere, Atletico Madrid picked up their first win of the tournament to move level on points with PSG while Seattle Sounders have yet to get off the mark.
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