The Moroccan international saw his first Champions League campaign come to an unceremonious end following the defeat to Olympiakos and admits that the squad lacks proper Champions League experience
Last season, reigning French Ligue 1 champions, Montpellier Herault were perhaps the most attractive sides in the country. And, after their coronation as the champions of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/France-c2899 for the first time in their history, many people expected La Paillade to be
the surprise package of the Champions League.
However, the exact opposite of that happened as the southerners failed to replicate last season’s form on the European circuit and with just two games left in the group stages, are already out of the competition and are still winless.
Last night, Rene Girard’s men were thumped to a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Olympiakos which means that the Ligue 1 outfit is almost doomed to fourth place in their group which means that they might not feature in Europe at all for the remainder of the campaign.
Although all has not been lost yet, Montpellier do need a miracle to secure a berth in the Europa League. They must beat Arsene Wenger’s http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Arsenal-c38429 and Schalke and then hope that the Greeks fail to muster a single point which might not be likely given the way
things have turned out in the Champions League this season.
While talking to the media, playmaker Younes Belhanda admits that the main reason behind his side’s spectacular failure in the UCL was down to inexperience.
“We saw the difference between the teams prepared to play this competition and a team that is not at all. There is a lack of experience in this kind of game to ‘manage’ the score at 1-1. We were so whipped about competing in the Champions League last season,”
said a dejected Belhanda who was one of the few La Paillade players who managed to raise their profile in the side’s short and forgettable journey in the UCL.
However, despite all this, fact is that Montpellier made some cardinal mistakes throughout the group stages. There were a lot of shortcomings of the side exposed thoroughly by Schalke, Arsenal and Olympiakos which means that La Paillade will have to improve
considerably if they are to stand their ground in Europe.
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