Sagnol’s ‘vini, vidi, Willy’ with Georgia: “It is as valuable as the Champions League that I won with Bayern”
Willy Sagnol (Saint-Étienne, 1977) had an outstanding career as a right back for Monaco, Bayern and France. He won six Leagues, one Champions, one Intercontinental, two Confederations… and reached the final of the 2006 World Cup after eliminating Spain in the round of 16.
Sagnol: “If we are here, it is partly because of 1-7”
His career as a coach, on the other hand, seemed on standby, if not over. Since leaving Girondins Bordeaux (2014-16) he had only had a brief ‘cameo’ at Bayern (2017) as Ancelotti’s assistant.
“I went so long without training voluntarily. Sometimes you have family commitments and football stops being your priority. I told myself that I would return to training if something out of the ordinary appeared,” he confessed to ‘FIFA.com’.
I went so long without training voluntarily. I told myself I would train again if something out of the ordinary appeared.
That “extraordinary” opportunity came to him in a surprising way on February 15, 2021. “I frequently clashed with president Levan Kobiashvili (Schalke) and vice-president Aleksandr Iashvili (Freiburg) during my time at Bayern,” he recalls.
Upon arrival, a weak selection was found -he had just been left out of the Euro in the play-offs- who was ranked 89th in the FIFA ranking… and lacked infrastructure. “There weren’t even fields left for the kids to train on. Here every euro counts. There are not many of us and we have to optimize each resource,” she admits.
There weren’t even fields left for the kids to train.
The beginnings were not at all promising. -had seven defeats in nine games-. “Some people thought I should have left,” she recalls. Little by little she gave the team an identity: “We are looking for quick moves forward. A team like Georgia has no chance if it does not make mistakes and take risks.
It also helped that, unlike his predecessors, he stayed to live in the country: “They thought, ‘We finally have a coach who wants to help us create something.'” Suddenly, he managed to come back. “Since my arrival, Georgia has achieved the best winning percentage in its history,” he boasts. Sagnol, which has 18 wins, six draws and 13 losses in 37 games.
His first ‘big night’ came in the play-offs. The victory, on penalties, against Greece qualified Georgia for the European Championship for the first time in its history. The former Bayern player also became the first French coach to coach a foreign team.
“I would pay to feel the way I feel now. Two or three weeks after qualifying, I was still asking myself: ‘Is what is happening to us true? Did we really manage to qualify for an important tournament?“, he questioned.
Two or three weeks after qualifying, I was still wondering: Did we really manage to qualify for a major tournament?
As incredible as it may seem, after putting a country of barely 4 million inhabitants in the Euro, I continued to be subject to criticism. “Now some idiots insult me every day for no football reason and I can’t stand it. I’m fed up,” he lamented before the game against Portugal.
Few will criticize him now. The historic victory against the ‘Seleçao das Quinas’ (2-0) allowed Georgia to get into the round of 16. “For me it was like my first coaching title. On an emotional level, it is worth as much as the Champions League that I won with Bayern in 2001 against Valencia,” “said the French coach after putting Georgia in the Euro.”
Georgia 2-0 Portugal: summary and goals | Euro Cup (J3)
Now he has surpassed himself… and is going for Spain: “Any result can happen even if we have lost to them four times in the last games.” Don’t trust it. In Georgia they cling to ‘Veni, vidi, Willy’.
