The http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Olympique-de-Marseille-c40127 goalkeeper has a lot of experience of playing in Europe and as Marseille prepare to take on Fenerbahce, the France international has said that he has made a lot of progress since joining Les Phoceens
Since joining Olympique de Marseille, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Steve-Mandanda-c34177 has been an excellent goalkeeper not only in the Ligue 1 but also in Europe. Ubiquitous on the European stage, the Canebiere club has played continental games from Liverpool to Milan
to Munich, London, Dortmund, Manchester to London and after five years at the Velodrome, Mandanda has now a lot of European experience.
On Thursday, Elie Baup’s side travels to Istanbul to play Turkish giants, Fenerbahce in their opening game of the group stages of Europa League. And, against Sarı Kanaryalar, Mandanda will beat Taye Taiwo’s record of playing the most number of matches for
Marseille in Europe.
Asked by La Provence regarding this particular statistic, Mandanda was surprised because he knew nothing about it.
“I did not know that. It allows you to see the progress made since my arrival at Marseille. And it makes me happy. It shows that I am here. I hope it will continue.”
Mandanda’s Champions League debut came a few years ago in a group game against English Premier League giants http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Liverpool-c39809 at Anfield. And, the goalkeeper feels that playing games of such importance has enabled him to make a speedy progress and become more mature.
“The difference between my first European match and those of the games that I play now is that today, I play mainly on experience and mentality. All those years of competition allowed us to mature in order to stand up to the big teams. In Liverpool in 2007,
I can still see us getting out of the tunnel and cross http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Dirk-Kuyt-c11348.... We were watching them, a little impressed. In Milan however, in 2012, the mood was completely different. Although here, too, there were great players. The experience
has enabled us to better manage such meetings.”
With a great guardian, OM can calmly play in the Europa League knowing that there will be a cool head between the sticks marshalling the defence.
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