France Bleu: Anthony, you will forever remain in the minds of Caen supporters as the one who won the maintenance penalty against Clermont
in the last seconds of the meeting in May 2021…!
Anthony Gonçalves: (Laughs) Yes, it’s part of my story with Malherbe. It’s true that this penalty does us good. And after it is transformed, so much the better. But it is certain that in any case, the place of the club is minimum in Ligue 2. I wish him as soon as possible to join the championship above. Because it is a club which deserves, by its history, by its infrastructures and its supporters, to go higher.
FB: Is this one of the highest stakes matches you’ve played in your career? This is not the only one.
AC: Yes, I had one where we snatched the support with Strasbourg against Lyon in the last seconds at La Meinau (In 2018). It was a really, really intense game too. I had also experienced a match just as important as this one, still with Strasbourg for the promotion to Ligue 1 against Bourg en Bresse at La Meinau (2017). It was absolutely necessary that we also win. So here it is, it’s one of the matches where you feel that it goes beyond the dimension of football. You feel that there is a whole people behind you and on this match there, even if it was behind closed doors, you felt that the supporters were there. Me, I was coming out of the cellar at that time – we won’t be afraid of words – and it was a way of showing that I was still invested and still as much involved in the club. Anyway, it’s a great story.
It’s one of the matches where you feel that it goes beyond the dimension of football (The maintenance match against Clermont).
FB: Precisely, what image do you keep of the Stade Malherbe de Caen? You had come from Strasbourg to play the climb. In the end, it was three rather complicated seasons, with four coaches and two different presidents, the covid and finally difficulties in the sports field.
AC: Yes, it was complicated. When I was in Strasbourg, when you look from the outside, you say to yourself when you see Stade Malherbe that it’s a good club. We say to ourselves, this is a great club and that we have to go there. Now, when I arrived, I felt that there was a fracture in any case with the public, with the supporters and the club. They no longer necessarily recognized themselves in the club after this descent. It was an element that was important in the season that was to come. We have arrived. We felt that. We felt that there was a distrust, a mistrust vis-à-vis the group and the club. So we are going to say that we suffered the plasters during this season there and then there was the covid. So it didn’t help with a season that ended in March and another that was played behind closed doors. For a club like Malherbe where there are almost 10,000 people on average at each match. You tell yourself that you are necessarily impacted a little more than the others.
We arrived, us newcomers, in a club which was a little sick and we had to wipe the plasters
And then after, there was this last season where I think it was a little better. And where I am proud is to have left and that the public found themselves in our team at that time and that in the last matches they felt that they found a little bit the club that they had known. also at one time. I often say it: there have to be players who eat a little shit, we’ll say before. And then, the most important thing has always been in my vision of things that the institution is above any player. We arrived, us newcomers, in a club which was a little sick and we had to wipe the plasters. Today, in any case, I left. I had a nice tribute and I thank them again and I think the players who left left the club in a better state than we could find it.
FB: When you left, did you go back to the club of your first love, Laval?
AC: Yes, it was a wish on my part. I was in contact with certain clubs and I had told my agent and above all a friend that if Laval showed up, it was a priority for me to come back to a club which had experienced a lot of difficulties. It lasted five years for them in this National Championship. And as I said earlier for me, it is also valid for the other clubs. There are players who have eaten a little shit in National, a lot even. But today, the club is back in its true place in Ligue 2. We feel – that’s often why I drew a parallel between Malherbe and Laval at the time – that the public also finds itself and has found the family club with a soul. You feel it every day, even there in difficulty. You feel that the supporters are responding. It is important for this type of club in any case.
FB: What is your role in this team?
AC: I didn’t come in like a star or anything. It is not the case at all. I was already very well received by the players who were present. I arrived with my experience, my experience and today I have only one desire, it is to share all that in fact. It’s to have the best possible season, to accompany the guys in the locker room who for the most part have never experienced this level and try to guide them. But at the same time, that they also bring me their carelessness and that with this mixture we all take maximum pleasure together on the ground to defend our colors.
It may seem paradoxical, but I really enjoyed playing under the colors of Malherbe and defending this club.
FB: What do you expect from this match this weekend? There are reunions with acquaintances and then there is the field?
AC: Yes, there are a lot of acquaintances and a lot of colleagues who are still present and with whom I still have a lot of affinity. I will be very happy to see them again. There will be a pregame. And then there will be during the game where I’m not going to give gifts. They won’t bother me either. But here it is, it is necessarily a special match for me because, despite the difficulties, it may seem paradoxical, but I really liked playing under the colors of Malherbe and defending this club. Today is not a trivial match for me and I will enjoy seeing everyone again. I think there will also be a lot of supporters and I will also enjoy seeing them. Now, of course, I’m on the other side, in another club. I will dearly defend my skin and my colors. I hope to stop Malherbe’s momentum just in this match and that we regain a positive momentum too.
We have the feeling of not being very, very far behind on the matches or on the content. And then in the end, it does not necessarily translate into points
FB: Is it hard this season for a promoted?
AC: It’s complicated. We have the feeling of not being very, very far behind on the matches or on the content. And then in the end, it does not necessarily translate into points. So it is certain that if we look at an accounting plan, it is complicated. Now, if we don’t go a little deeper, the content is interesting and we have a team that has character, that doesn’t give up. If I take the match this weekend, it had never happened to me. We take three goals in ten minutes and then behind, we come back to three two and we push, we push. And it did not smile but in any case, we never let go. We made mistakes, we paid them cash. Now, we have to use this kind of match to move forward. We know very well what our championship is. We know what the club’s objective is for this season and above all we must not think that we are more beautiful than we are because we had some interesting results at the start of the season. Now, you have to put on the blue heater and move on. We have qualities on which we must rely. We have flaws that need to be erased quickly. And then we’re going to try to do that on Saturday at home
FB: It will be a pleasure to see you again, especially in this Francis Le Basser stadium, which smells of football?
AC: It’s a popular stadium and today we are lucky that the fans follow us precisely because they see that on the pitch, we don’t cheat. It’s a bit of the mentality, I think, also at Malherbe. When the fans see that the players are not cheating, they are ready to come and come back. Today, it’s a bit the case so I will enjoy seeing all the Caennais, all the Normans and for 90 minutes, we will be adversaries. But as I said when I left, I’m a Malherbe supporter now. But just for 90 minutes, you won’t have to blame me but otherwise for the rest, I’m behind them.