Do you think England
have a chance of victory in the World Cup in Rio 2014?
Yes
I believe that miracles can happen in football but can they win the World Cup
in Brazil? No I don’t think so! But I think the beauty of the game is the fact
that anything can happen and I know what I am talking about as in 2006 no one
believed that France could go through to the final and I think we see surprised
everybody game after game and that can happen to England or to any team that
wants to be successful.
But
I think that England have a long way to go because winning the World Cup is
something tough, it is something really difficult and in our time with the French
team we were really lucky because we had a special player like Zindane.
You
need a big player to perform at the right time and I believe with all the top
players from England performing all together at the same time then they will
have a chance and we are talking about 4, 5, 6 players not just one and I think
if they all perform together at the right time together then they have a chance
because there is no doubt that there is quality in the English national team.
How important would a
winter break be for England?
First
of all I think to win a big tournament like the Euro’s or the World Cup you
need talent in your team and I believe that there is talent in the England
national team and a winter break I think is really quite important because when
you are getting to the end of the season in a World Cup year it is a long, long
season because you get tired physically and mentally and to go back to a major
tournament is always difficult. But this is one of the reasons I believe but
maybe not the only one but overall I think when you have talent in your team
you can win big trophies.
Where Manchester City
disappointed to miss out on some big signings over the summer?
I
don’t know if City are disappointed of not signing some big names over the
summer like the press have spoken about but I believe that the team is strong
enough to challenge in all the competitions they will be getting involved with
and when you look back on the last few day we signed Maincon who I think is one
of the best players in his position. We signed Javie Garcia who is a young
talented player as well. So I believe that the team is strong enough to
challenge any of the teams in the league and in the Champion’s league.
What are Manchester
City’s chances of winning back to back titles?
I
think that City’s chances to win the league will be more difficult than last
year because I believe that City will be the team to beat, last year we proved
to everybody that we are a really strong football club on and off the field as
well and it will be more difficult. But I believe that City are good enough to
win the league again.
How tough is Man
City’s group [in the Champions League] considering Real Madrid and Dortmund are
in it?
I
believe that the group in the Champions League is the most difficult group of
all but it is really exciting and I think the fans must be really please and
really happy because three years ago City where playing against small teams and
where fighting to not go down and now we are going to receive Madrid, Ajax and Dortmund,
last year we had Munich.
I
think that is what the fans want when you compete in the champions league, you
must expect to play against these kinds of teams and I think this is the way
you learn. This is the way you progress and this is the big stage. Against
these kinds of football clubs you want to perform so it is really exciting I
think this is a good group, difficult but good.
The
problem in football is that the fans, the papers and the journalists forget
about what you did last year and I think that Arsene is the man to bring back
the success of the football club and it won’t be easy for them because they
were losing their best players in the last few years and it is never easy to
contend winning silverware when you are losing your best players.
But
Arsenal will always have a chance to win something because they are playing
really good football, they are always creating chances and they are always
scoring goals so if you are scoring goals you will always have a chance to win
games and to win games means that you have a chance to win something at the end
of the season.
And
I believe that with a player like Diaby coming back from injury who I think has
been missed a lot over the last few years because he didn’t play with the
football, so I believe that arsenal with their starting eleven or thirteen have
a chance of challenging any other team.
Who are your
favourites for the Champions League?
So
the favourites for the Champions League… it is going to be really, really
difficult because you are talking about teams like Real Madrid, like Barcelona,
like Bayern Munich who I believe will be in the last four, the last eight but I
hope that City will be one of the surprises of the competition even if I know
we are quite far behind these kind of clubs because the history behind this
kind of club is really quite important and we are far away behind. If I really
had to give you a name I would go for Barcelona.
How strong is the
Europa League this season?
The
Europa League is really exciting because for the last three, four years it has
become more and more important and more and more difficult to win it and when
you look at the teams now playing in the Europa League in France I would say,
Lyon, Marseille, Boudreaux are in the Europa League and there are so many big
clubs as well. In the last three or four years it has become more and more
competitive.
Who are your
favourites in the Europa League?
The
favourites for the Europa League I would have to say… Athletic Madrid really
impressed me last year by the way they played and the way they played against
Chelsea. If I had to give you a favourite I would have to say Athletic Madrid
but I hope that some of the French team’s like Marseille, Bordeaux or Lyon will
do well because they are the three biggest clubs in France.
What is currently the
best league in the world?
I
think the best league in the world no doubt about it is the English league
because this is now where all the players want to come, all the big foreign
names want to play in England and the league is now so competitive and I think
you have five or six teams that could win the league, that makes it really
exciting.
When
I go back to France it looks like they are following the Premier League more
than the French League and I think that says everything, so yes, no doubt about
it, the English Premier league is the best league.
What’s the right
balance between training young players and education?
Being
part of the academy, I think what we really want to do is of course for the
young players to become good footballers but to be a good human being as well
and a good professional. They have to grow up with a lot of pressure on their
shoulders and we want them to be a role model for our society. We are taking
the education part really seriously because we believe that they have to be
good players and good human beings and a good person as well so our focus on
education is really, really important but overall we want them to be good
footballers as well.
What is the Western
Union PASS initiative?
The
Western Union pass initiative is one pass equals one days education and it
starts this year in the Europa league and 11 counties will be part of the
project. I am really happy to be part of it because I know how education is
important for the young people.
What are your
experiences of education growing up in Senegal?
I
was born in Senegal in Africa and the education wasn’t the best, I think one of
the ways to become successful and to be somebody is to… football was one of the
ways to be successful and I realise how education is important because I think
education will give you more opportunities in life to choose what you really
want to do.
To
get the focus and to work hard and if you believe in yourself you can find your
way. It took me time to understand it but I believe that the future of the
world and especially in Africa is education and this is the reason that I am
really pleased to be part of the Western Union project.
Patrick is an
ambassador for Western Union’s new PASS initiative, turning every pass in this
season’s UEFA Europa League into funding for one day’s education for young
people around the world.
