CHAMPIONS LEAGUE | COACHES
Christophe
Galtier
(Lille)I
f as good a judge as Jose Mourinho
describes the Lille coach as the best
in France’s Ligue 1, it is surely time to
sit up and take note.
Mourinho, regularly in attendance at Lille
home games following his departure from
Manchester United in December, makes no
secret of his admiration for the 53-year-old
Galtier, telling L’Equipe TV last term: “I think he
is the coach of the season. He’s qualified his side
for the Champions League, they were runners-
up in the French league. Then there’s the high
quality of the football and his development of
young players. He is the man of the season.”
When steering Saint-Etienne to victory in
the 2013 French Cup – the club’s first trophy
in over three decades – Galtier was viewed by
the Gallic media as a one-dimensional defensive
obsessive, someone whose primary concern wasNick Bidwell profiles some of the coaches who will be taking charge
of a team in the Champions League group stage for the first time
options at his disposal last season – not least
Nicolas Pepe, Jonathan Ikone and Jonathan
Bamba – but they still had to be placed in the
right conditions to flourish, with the full-backs
intelligently pushing on in support and inverted
wingers Pepe and Bamba sparking mayhem
when cutting inside.
A feisty left-back in
his playing days with
Marseille, Toulouse
and Lille, as well as
featuring in the
French under-21
side that won the
European title in
1988, Galtier boasts all the necessary attributes
of a top-level coach. He is quick to make bold
tactical adjustments in difficult moments, is a
charismatic communicator, has a strong bond
with his players and has a flair for sparking a
group dynamic. His squad implicitly believes in
him and utterly share his self-confidence.
“His team is convinced that they are going to
win every match,” says Gerard Gili, the ex-Bastia
boss who employed him as his number two.keeping the back door locked. That, however,
was a little unfair. At Saint-Etienne, he often
used to go with a bright and breezy 4-3-3, and
he certainly brought out the best of a young
front runner by the name of Pierre-Emerick
Aubameyang, who racked up goal upon goal
for Les Verts.
At Lille, where he
took over in late 2017,
Galtier has worked
nothing less than
a miracle, taking a
dysfunctional side
which came within a
whisker of relegation
in his inaugural campaign and turning them
into a total-football sensation last time out.
In their default 4-2-3-1 shape, Galtier’s team
has an extraordinary balance at its heart. Both
rigorous defensively – they were the meanest
rearguard in the whole of Ligue 1 last season,
conceding just 33 goals – yet creative, fluid
and explosive further forward, they are a mix
of discipline, verve and panache.
Galtier had a wonderful set of attackingRise of the rookies
“The high quality of the
football and his development
of young players – he is the
man of the season”
Jose Mourinho on Galtier last term